Massive rally by the Left against BJP and Trinamool

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury addresses a massive Left Front rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on February 3.

After a gap of three years the Brigade Parade Ground of Kolkata took on a red hue as hundreds of thousands of Left supporters thronged the place at the call of a public meeting by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front. All the Left Front leaders assembled on the stage, launched a two-pronged attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. The running refrain of the rally was “BJP hataao, desh bachaao. Trinamool hataao, Bangla bachaao” (Remove the BJP and save the country. Remove Trinamool and save Bengal). Even the ailing CPI(M) stalwart and former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee came for the occasion, though his fragile health condition did not allow him to get out of his car.

On the podium, along with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Polit Bureau members Surjya Kanta Mishra, Biman Bose and other top leaders, were Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) general secretary Kshiti Goswami, and Communist Party of India (M-L) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.

“Seeing the crowd before me, it is clear to me that the people of Bengal have decided to remove Modi from Delhi and remove Trinamool from Bengal. There is only one problem, whether they [the Trinamool] will allow us to cast our votes. But with this sea of humanity before us, we want to send them a warning: if you try to stop us from casting our votes, then our resistance will spread like wild fire,” said Yechury.

Coming down heavily on the Union government on issues ranging from demonetisation to farmer distress, from corruption to the Rafale controversy, the Left leaders were equally scathing in their attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Trinamool Congress. Biman Bose pointed out that Trinamool was once an ally of the BJP and held the Mamata Banerjee government wholly responsible for the spread of right-wing Hindutva in West Bengal. “If there is anyone who is responsible for the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) setting up base in the State, it is the Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP and the Trinamool are two flowers from the same seed,” said Bose.

The leaders also expressed scepticism regarding the opposition rally organised by Mamata on January 19, which the Left Front did not attend. “Of the 23 leaders on stage that day who had chanted ‘BJP Hataao’, there were four BJP leaders…. There is no question of ideology here. Those BJP members want to have Modi removed because they were not made Ministers. Let me remind you, Chief Minister, that the very slogan you raised, ‘BJP Hataao’ was raised by us four years ago,” said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and West Bengal party secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra.

One of the high points of the rally was the presence of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Even though he was not able to get out of his car, the fact that he was there itself was a source of great joy and excitement for the party’s supporters, many of whom had come from distant places to attend the rally. “The fact that in spite of being so ill he still came to the rally is something that inspires us and makes us feel proud to be associated with a party that has a leader like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,” a CPI(M) supporter told Frontline.