Pitching for her party’s campaign for 2024 Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Bannerjee, on Thursday, gave a clarion call to people to “break the shackles of the BJP and its monumental incompetence. Install a pro-people government”. She called the next general election a “rejection election”. 

Mamata Banerjee was addressing a massive rally at Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata to mark Trinamool Congress (TMC) Martyrs’ Day. July 21 is observed as ‘Shaheed-Diwas’ by her party every year in commemoration of the 1993 Bengal Massacre. This year, the occasion has been used to protest the latest Goods and Services Tax (GST) tweaks brought in by the Central Government. 

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The chief minister was also seen holding a grain of puffed rice (muri) in her hand, to bring home her point that the latest imposition of the GST on essential commodities including packaged rice, curds, milk, etc. 

She said, “The BJP has lost its mind. They are imposing GST on muri. See, they have put GST on muri. Even on mishti (sweets), lassi (buttermilk) and curd. If a patient gets admitted to hospital, they’ll charge GST now.” 

A lot of drama was seen during the rally with Mamata asking the crowd to pass a bag of puffed rice to her, and summoning a jhal-muri (puffed rice snack) vendor on the stage.

It was a crucial event for TMC as it was holding the event organised after two years of covid19 restrictions. The TMC leadership in general, and the CM in particular, used this stage to outline their roadmap for the next 12 months. 

“We have the ability to fight,” the TMC supremo asserted. “We have the spine to take on the BJP. They have the ED, CBI and other agencies as their allies. BJP will be swept away from power at Centre by people’s mandate in 2024,” she said addressing thousands present at the rally.

She accused the BJP of destroying the Central institutions and using them as a tool to intimidate their opponents. She also said that those who did not play any role in the country’s freedom struggle, are now rewriting the history of the country. 

Party workers and leaders from across the state are expected to turn up for the ongoing event in large numbers. The gathering is touted to surpass scores of thousands. The police have made adequate crowd control arrangements by deploying more than three thousand personnel.