Trinamul to hold silent protests near BJP legislators’ houses

The agitations will take place near the houses of four BJP MLAs in the district and near the house of BJP MP John Barla on Lakhipara tea estate in Banarhat of Jalpaiguri

John Barla.File Picture

TT Correspondent   |   Alipurduar   |   01.03.23 : Hundreds of Trinamul Congress supporters will converge in four locations of Alipurduar district on Wednesday and in another location of the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district to launch six-day-long protests against BJP legislators.

In the past month, this is the second time that Mamata Banerjee’s party has planned protests near the homes of BJP’s elected representatives. Prakash Chik Baraik, the Alipurduar district Trinamul president, has said as the Madhyamik exams are on, the party will hold silent protests near the houses of four BJP MLAs in the district and near the house of BJP MP John Barla on Lakhipara tea estate in Banarhat of Jalpaiguri.

“The protests will be organised because these elected representatives have not done anything for their constituencies. Also, the central government has failed to meet the aspirations of Alipurduar residents and BJP leaders have made hollow promises to garner votes,” said Prakash.

Last year, Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of Trinamul, had said at a public meeting in north Bengal that if problems pertaining to provident funds of thousands of tea workers were not resolved soon, the party would launch demonstrations near the houses of BJP MLAs and MPs.

Accordingly, from January 27 to February 5, Trinamul held demonstrations in front of the house of five BJP MLAs of the district and also in front of Barla’s house. Also, on February 19, a day-long protest was held near the house of Nisith Pramanik, the Union minister of state for home affairs, in the adjoining Cooch Behar district.

Soon after the demonstrations, Suman Kanjilal, the BJP MLA of Alipurduar, joined Trinamul. He was inducted into the party by Abhishek in Calcutta. Trinamul insiders, while speaking about the protests, said they planned to exert pressure on BJP, which had bagged all five Assembly seats in Alipurduar and also the sole MP seat of the district.

They mentioned that it is important to apprise residents of the district about the non-performance of the MLAs and MPs. “John Barla, despite being a junior minister in the minority affairs ministry, has remained silent about local and regional issues. The state government, on the other hand, continued to work for socio-economic development of people who live in the district. The protests, coupled with our programme to reach out to people at their doorsteps, can help Trinamul at the rural polls,” said a party leader.

That Trinamul has BJP strongholds like Alipurduar and Cooch Behar is in the radar is evident as Abhishek, party sources said, will be here on March 11 to attend a public meeting. Earlier this month, he was in Cooch Behar. BJP leaders, however, sounded unperturbed. Manoj Tigga, the BJP MLA of Madarihat in the district, has claimed that Trinamul lacks a support base in the district.

“People have realised that leaders of the party are involved in corruption. That is why they are resorting to such drama to divert peoples’ attention,” Tigga, the chief whip of BJP in the Assembly, said.