Over 40,000 young men and women march in support of martyrs,’ including Anis Khan.
Kolkata, 21st September: The CPM’s student and youth organizations, SFI and DYFI, organized an Insaaf meet (rally for justice) in Calcutta on Tuesday, and it appears that the size of the event and the leadership’s hurried decision to change the location from the Y-Channel in Esplanade to the Lenin Sarani-Chowringhee Road crossing stunned the administration.
One of the busiest streets was besieged by a group of more than 40,000 young people who had gathered from all over the state to demand justice for “martyrs”, including Anis Khan, who had perished on February 20 at Amta in Howrah. At the intersection of C.R. Avenue and Bentinck Street, DYFI state secretary Minakshi Mukherji urged the crowd to turn around, leave the crowded Y-Channel, and proceed in the direction of Victoria House.
The meeting was supposed to take place in front of Victoria House, where the Trinamul Congress holds its annual martyrs’ day ceremony on July 21.
Mukherji and her colleagues, on the other hand, had earlier claimed that, despite the fact that the programme had been announced several weeks prior, the police had refused to allow them to hold the meeting in front of Victoria House. The police instead allocated the Y-Channel to the event.
In the specified area, a temporary stage was also built up. However, when three prearranged rallies from Howrah, Sealdah, and Calcutta arrived at Y-Channel, the crowd overflowed. Within minutes following Mukherji’s call, rallyists had occupied the intersection of Chowringhee and Lenin Sarani, and the crowd had extended to all routes radiating from the intersection.
As thousands of DYFI-SFI activists grabbed control of the road up to the Park Street crossing, the crowd that was gathered on Chowringhee Road extended past Dorina Crossing.
Even some of the organisers were shocked by the size of the turnout. Some of the leaders told this reporter that the throng was evidence that the CPM was recovering ground among the general public.
“How else do you explain this crowd? I believe the anti-Mamata vote that had shifted to the BJP in 2019 and 2012 is coming back and this crowd is its result. It is a happy sight for us ahead of the polls”, a previous CPM minister stated.
Several top police officers, including joint police commissioner for crime, Muralidhar Sharma, arrived at the scene shortly after the crowd blocked the route.
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Published By: Sandipan Dutta
