TMC takes out rallies throughout city, urges all to join Martyrs' Day meet

Trinamool Congress on Sunday took out rallies in different parts of the city urging people from all walks of life to join the Martyrs' Day meeting on July 21 at Esplanade. It will be addressed by party chief Mamata Banerjee.

A colourful rally was taken out from Dum Dum Park to Dakshindari. Rallies were also taken out in south and north Kolkata as well as Behala.

Meetings were held in different areas where Trinamool Congress leaders including Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Sashi Panja, Sadhan Pandey took part. The party leadership expects a record gathering in this year's rally.

This Sunday being the last Sunday before the Martyrs' Day meeting, all party leaders were present in the processions.

A huge stage will be built opposite CESC House on Chittaranjan Avenue. Trinamool leaders including Subrata Bakshi and Mukul Roy visited the site where the stage will come up.

They will supervise construction of the stage. Party workers and leaders from all over the state will come to participate in the rally.

Around 12 youth Congress workers were killed in police firing on July 21, 1993. Mamata Banerjee has been observing the day as Martyrs' Day since 1994.

Party insiders said this year's meeting is important in view of the BJP's attempt to create communal tension in the state, trouble in the Hills and the ensuing Panchayat election which is scheduled to be held in 2018.

They said Mamata Banerjee will give instructions to party workers and leaders from the dias to combat the problems that have recently cropped up in the state recently.

A high-level meeting was held in Lalbazar last week to prepare the blueprint for the rally. Traffic along Chittaranjan Avenue and stretches on Jawaharlal Nehru Road will be diverted from 10 am.

There will be 10 big rallies which will come from different areas and will converge at the venue. Party workers from the districts will come to the city by road and train on July 20. The buses from the districts will be parked on the ground opposite Akashbani Bhavan.

The party will open camp offices in different parts of the city to help those taking part in the processions and they will be given water pouches from these camps.

Subrata Bakshi said: "Steps have been taken to conduct the meeting and rallies peacefully without causing any inconvenience to people."