CM Mamata Banerjee leads TMC rally in Kolkata against SIR

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday hit the streets of Kolkata, leading a protest rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Banerjee’s party, the ruling Trinamool Congress, has dubbed the exercise “silent invisible rigging” by the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission. Accompanied by her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the CM began the 3.8-km rally from the statue of B R Ambedkar on Red Road. The march will culminate at Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore. Thousands of TMC supporters thronged the rally route, waving the party flags, raising slogans and holding aloft colourful posters. Dressed in her trademark white cotton saree and slippers, Banerjee led the procession, occasionally stopping to greet people standing on balconies and pavements. Abhishek Banerjee followed the chief minister, waving to the crowd, flanked by senior TMC leaders and ministers.