Her age did not become a barrier for the 75-year-old woman from Central Kolkata to attend the Martyrs' Day rally at Esplanade when her ailing son was admitted in hospital with severe leg injuries. Fighting all odds, she walked amidst lakhs of Trinamool Congress supporters just to extend her love and affection to party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
The septuagenarian, Maya Rani Basak, walked on Chittaranjan Avenue to reach as much as possible near the stage just to watch her favourite leader Mamata Banerjee addressing the mammoth rally on the Martyrs' Day.
"I support her (Mamata Banerjee). I had full faith in her and she has proved it in the past six years by ensuring an overall development of the state," said Basak, a resident of Dr Jagabandhu Lane at Bow Bazar in Central Kolkata. The elderly woman was supported by some youth to walk amidst the crowd. Besides attending the meeting, she was found inspiring other supporters to shout slogans louder.
Amidst encouraging others and marching ahead with all her strength, the woman has narrated the phase she is passing through as her 23-year-son was ill and admitted to hospital. Even in such a situation, she was not ready to give up, instead, she claimed herself to be strong enough even at this age to do the needful for faster recovery of her son and at the same time, to extend all support to the Chief Minister of Bengal.
"My son is a hawker. He had received severe injuries on his knees and got admitted to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital eight days ago. I need to take care of him as he is bed-ridden. Despite this, I came to attend the meeting just out of my love for the Chief Minister," she said adding that she will continue to do so. It was well known to the woman clad in a white saree with a polythene packet in her hand that it would not be possible for her to reach too close to the podium as lakhs of people had been sitting since morning. But she came so that at least she doesn't feel guilty for not being present there on such a historic day.