The Significance Of Mamata Banerjee Returning To Kolkata's Protest Epicentre

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is facing her toughest elections yet, with the principal opposition party--the BJP--as the primary challenger in West Bengal. At a time when the elections have charged up the political landscape in the state, even before the dates are announced, Banerjee has turned the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls to the centre of her latest political campaign. From the Supreme Court in New Delhi to the streets of Kolkata, the Trinamool Congress chief is leaving no stone unturned to shift the public sentiment in her favour.

In the heart of Kolkata, a busy junction sandwiched between Eden Gardens, Raj Bhavan, Calcutta High Court and the Legislative Assembly, Banerjee has begun her sit-in protest against SIR, bringing her movement against the BJP to the streets.

The epicentre of her political campaign is the Metro Y channel or Dharamtala. It was here in 2006 that Banerjee, then opposition leader, sat on a 26-day hunger strike against the Jyoti Basu-led Left regime. What transpired thereafter was the exit of the big-ticket Tata Nano project from Bengal's Singur. This solidified her 'street fighter' image in the nation's political history and catapulted her to the state's top post in 2011.

Almost a decade later, she's back to where it all began. Only this time, the arrangements are elaborate, and the fight is even tougher. The protest continues from a massive stage equipped with chairs, fans, and pillows. In the background, a flex carries Banerjee's portrait and a message in Bangla, the state's official language, on how the BJP is "destroying democracy" in the country through SIR by snatching away voting rights from the people.

For Indira Sarkar, a Trinamool supporter, the chief minister's protest at Dharmatala signifies that she's always standing with the people of her state. "Whenever Didi sits on a protest here, the people get a message that during tough times, only one leader can be seen amongst the people, and that is Mamata Banerjee," she told NDTV.

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Banerjee is often referred to as 'Didi' in the country's political circles.

This is the same site where she sat on a dharna in support of her former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who was under the CBI lens in the Saradha scam probe in 2019, after an unprecedented face-off that saw Kolkata cops arresting CBI officers.

During that protest, politicians like Kanimozhi, Tejashwi Yadav, Chandrababu Naidu, and Kiranmay Nanda met her here before she ended her fast and resumed office.

But this time, the stage has doubled up to launch her political attack against the centre on various issues, apart from SIR. Be it the LPG price hike, a rebuttal to the protocol lapses during President Droupadi Murmu's visit, and how the centre has apparently ignored the Constitution to muzzle the voice of the opposition parties. Her party MPs, MLAs, councillors, and even eminent citizens sat by her side, giving speeches and joining in protest songs composed by her against the centre.

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Every day around 10 am, the curtains go up, and Mamata Banerjee appears on the stage, waving at her supporters who gather to get a glimpse of her. The busy officegoers and students returning from school also enter the venue along with their parents to see the chief minister, whom, otherwise, they usually see only on the television screen. The traffic police, by now, are used to regulating traffic smoothly. They close one flank of the busy junction to accommodate the crowd and VIP movement in the peak traffic hours.

But the BJP doesn't want to give any further mileage to the chief minister's dharna that has TV news cameras fixed on her through the day.

"This is a good practice for her as she will return to being the opposition leader of the state after the BJP defeats her in the upcoming elections in West Bengal. After that, she will have to permanently sit at Dharmatala for protests," said Sukanta Majumdar, Union Minister and former state president of the BJP.

But for those who continue to support the Trinamool in West Bengal, such protests only set the momentum ahead of political battles.

"SIR has really harassed the public in general. The documents, the uncertainty, and the bar deletions have impacted so many lives. The BJP has been missing on the ground; it's only the Trinamool that has been seen helping the public in ensuring their names aren't left out," Sushanta Chatterjee told NDTV at the dharna site.

Out of the total 7.66 crore voters in West Bengal, 58.2 lakh voters were deleted from the draft list, bringing the new tally to 7.04 crore voters. Besides, 60 lakh voters have been put on a "logical discrepancy" list, which is now being scrutinised by the Supreme Court.