Striking the iron while it is hot, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to take the battle to the saffron camp in Assam. Agenda: Continued struggle against alleged “biased implementation” of National Register for Citizens in that State “pushing lakhs of Bengalis on the verge of denationalisation” and recent killings in Tinsukia district.
The Chief Minister has decided to launch a “sustained and intensified campaign” in that State leading the battle personally. Her Assam campaign is likely to commence in the month of January after the January 16 grand rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata where the TMC chief has invited all the anti-BJP outfits.
TMC-led protests against the “discriminatory implementation of NRC” and killing of Bengali people in Assam, has already found support in that State.
According to sources the Chief Minister has formed a 16-member committee which will lead the campaign against attacks on the minorities, mainly the Bengalis in Assam and the allegedly discriminatory NRC regime.
Seasoned Trinamool Congress Firhad Hakim has been asked to coordinate the movement in Assam. Hakim a Bengal Minister is likely to call upon the Muslim leaders too to join Banerjee’s campaign. “Our campaign in Assam is not directed against any particular community but against the Government’s initiative to drive out the minorities including the Bengalis, Biharis, UP wallas and Muslims. This cannot be tolerated and a sustained movement has to be built up in that State. The TMC will lead the movement there,” Banerjee is known to have told her party delegates who had recently come from Assam.
Following the Chief Minister’s directives TMC leadership in Assam has started taking measures to build up a movement in Barak Valley and Brahmaputra Valley, sources said. “We will go to the people with the message that the TMC is by the side of all the tormented people in Assam.”
The Assam unit of the party is planning to hold Mamata Banerjee’s rallies at Goalpara, Dhubri, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup(rural), sources said adding the first such rally could be organized at Khanapara in Guwahati.
TMC’s Assam ambitions is further underscored by its decision to contest the panchayat elections in that State. The party is likely to field candidates from at least 9-10 districts where the Bengalis have sizeable population.
“The TMC has good prospects in Assam. We want to good in that State.
We have been able to find some base their too. But the gains can further be cemented if our leader Mamata Banerjee addresses a few rallies in that State,” an Assam TMC leader has said.
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is likely to meet his Bengal counterpart on Monday noon, sources said adding he is likely to invite Banerjee to the all-party meeting in Delhi.