india

Updated: Sep 03, 2019 08:35 IST

Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday decided to hold an agitation against the exclusion of about 19 lakh names from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam with chief minister Mamata Banerjee set to lead a rally in Kolkata on September 12.

Before that separate rallies would be held in all the state’s 341 blocks on September 7 and 8, it was decided at a meeting held at a place close to the chief minister’s residence in Kalighat that was attended by all MPs, district presidents and ministers and district coordinators of Didike Bolo public outreach campaign.

Political strategist Prashant Kishor, whose Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) was roped in by the TMC in June after the Lok Sabha elections setback, was also present at the meeting.

“The party will organise agitations protesting harassment of genuine Indian citizens due to the NRC in Assam at every community development block of West Bengal over September 7 and 8 and a central protest rally will be taken out in Kolkata on September 12,” said TMC Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray.

During the meeting, the party also decided to better its present coordination with political parties active in the northeast.

Sayantan Basu, general secretary of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party said, “Right now we are busy holding interactive sessions with intellectuals in every district of Bengal on NRC and abrogation of article 370. Ahead of Durga Puja we will take out rallies demanding citizenship for Hindus from Bangladesh and push back of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators into Bangladesh.”

“Didi also instructed the party’s lawmakers (MPs and MLAs) to cooperate with CBI and other investigative agencies in the probes into the ponzi scam and the Narada sting operation. She asked that none should avoid summons by central agencies,” said a Lok Sabha member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Over a dozen MPs and MLAs are facing investigation by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with ponzi scams such as Saradha and Rose Valley and Narada sting operation.

For Bengal, the TMC chief has also asked the party’s district unit presidents to ensure that the members of the Parliament and the state Assembly do not leave their respective localities during the Puja festivities.

“Didi has instructed that no elected public representative should go on vacation during the festive month of October, when Durga puja will be followed by Laxmi puja and Kali puja,” said a district unit president who did not want to be identified.

Snehasis Chakraborty, the TMC legislator from Jangipara and the newly-appointed coordinator for Didike Bolo’s Hooghly district programmes, said that the TMC chief has strictly instructed party leaders and workers against ‘politicising the puja’.

“We have been asked to stand by the people during the festive season but have been categorically instructed against putting up the party’s flag or any banner containing the party’s name in and around the Puja pandals. The message is clear – we have to help people in hassle-free organisation of the community pujas, without involving the party’s name,” Chakraborty said.