The Congress and the left parties on Monday jointly sponsored a “citizen’s rally” to protest against police action JNU students over alleged anti-india sloganeering at university campus in Delhi, exploiting the opportunity to buttress an alliance ahead of 0Assembly election.
launching a scathing attack on the Centre for “trying to control JNU by pushing in policemen and trample upon people’s right to freedom of speech,” State Congress leader OP Mishra said any arrest without proper inquiry and just on the basis of hearsay evidences was not acceptable in free India.
Professor Moidul Islam of Presidency College said there was no difference between the BJP Government in the Centre and the Trinamool Congress in Bengal which was also guilty of “desecrating campuses” by sending policemen in Jadavpur and Presidency Universities.
Among those who participated in the long march from College Square to Dorina Crossing in Kolkata were Somen Mitra, Abdul Mannan, Pradip Bhattacharya of the Congress and Manju Kumar Majumdar, Sujan Chakrabarty, Bikash Bhattacharya, Naren Dey and Ritabrata Banerjee of the left Front.
“We had invited all the like-minded secular parties against the BJP Government’s designs to saffronise Indian universities but some parties are conspicuously absent from today’s march proving thereby that they are also hand-in-glove with the RSS,” former Kolkata Mayor and left leader Bhattacharya said apparently targeting the Trinamool Congress and playing at the minority gallery.
The Monday’s walk tended to assume importance not so much for the stated solidarity shown in with the JNU students as the cause of a Congress-left Alliance it buttressed at a time when the top leadership of the both the groups were discussing prospects of a mutual tie-up.
The Monday’s march is also seen as a bid to exercise pressure on the CPI(M) politburo and the Congress high command by the respective State leaders of these parties so that the top leadership of these parties agree to a Congress-left electoral alliance in Bengal. The Congress and left leaders of Kerala are not in favour of an alliance in Bengal.
“Such marches are organized only after the minds of the people unite vis a vis a given situation and if it paves the way for a broad based understanding of the people then there is no harm in it” said CPI(M) leaders.