Ahead of next year’s Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress is set to organise a grand rally on December 6, the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.
The TMC’s minority cell generally organises this rally every year, but this time, the party’s top leadership has handed responsibility to its students’ and youth wings, according to sources.
The rally will be held at the Mahatma Gandhi statue where party supremo Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are expected to address the gathering.
On why the minority cell was not given charge this year, TMC spokesperson Jayprakash Majumder said, “This is solely an organisational decision.”
According to TMC sources, the effort this year is to present the rally not just as a political event but as an initiative to convey a message of “solidarity and communal unity”. Party leaders and ministers will highlight this message in their speeches and emphasise the importance of “resisting communalism”.
A senior TMC leader said, “We are realising that Bihar gave us a lesson — SIR is not an election issue. It is more of an individualistic issue. Those whose names will not be in the voter list after SIR will be affected, but that portion will not be able to vote. So, we have to change our narrative. The BJP, with SIR, has sharpened their communal campaign, which is spreading an environment of fear.”
“We will counter that to mobilise a secular vote bank towards us,” the leader said, adding that the anniversary of the demolition is “a perfect day to spread the message of communal harmony… Before and after the rally, we are trying to make an impact so that we can use it to start our election campaign at the grassroots level.”
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Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, reacting to the rally plan, said, “We can easily understand why TMC is organising a grand rally on December 6, which community they want to make happy with this rally. People of Bengal will answer TMC on this in the election.”
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Sanhati Dibas (December 6) is not only a day for Trinamool to convey a message of communal harmony, but also a strategic day to raise voice against BJP’s politics of religion. The party has given a strong message of secularism, social harmony, democratic rights and against communal polarisation. Trinamool wants to hold a big gathering. This time, the student-youth organisation will play a major role in organising this rally.”
