It was past 2 p.m. and little Parul was impatient. She was hungry and fidgety, playing with her mother’s sari. Parul’s parents, however, were trying hard to catch a glimpse of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was addressing around 10-lakh audience, who had assembled on the occasion of Shahid Diwas in the city on Monday.
“I have come from Bankura district to just see and hear Ms. Banerjee talk. We heard that she would not be talking for a very long time. I’ll look for a place to eat once she finishes her speech,” Parul’s father Shankar Mondal said.
The city came to a standstill on Shahid Diwas, an annual event of the Trinamool Congress to commemorate the 13 activists of the Youth Congress, who were killed when the police opened fire at a protest march on July 21, 1993, during the Left Front rule. Ms. Banerjee was the then State president of the Youth Congress.
Tram services were stopped from the Esplanade tram depot to the northern parts of the city and bus routes were altered.
Traffic moved at a snail’s pace at Babughat where buses, bringing party supporters from all over the State, were parked.
Exorbitant chargesTaking advantage of the situation, taxi drivers asked for exorbitant charges for short distances. The crowd assembled at Esplanade, however, were completely oblivious to the inconvenience. Urging her husband to stand a few metres ahead so that she could get a clear view of Ms. Banerjee, Jayanti Rai from Garbeta in Paschim Medinipur district had travelled throughout Monday night with her family and 80 other villagers to see Ms. Banerjee. Nonchalant about the fact that her husband had lost a day’s earning at a brick kiln near her village, she said, “You don’t get to see Ms. Banerjee from such close quarters every day. We have a lot of respect for her and the way she single-handedly ended the suffering we faced at the hands of the previous government. How could we not respond to her call when she needed our support? Some of the other villagers used this opportunity to tour the city but I didn’t want to do so.”
As Ms. Banerjee finished her speech, people dispersed and looked for cheap lunch options.
Brisk businessA man selling chapatti and curry a few metres away from the gathering made brisk business. “I don’t actually support Didi [Ms. Banerjee] but thanks to such rallies, I make quick money,” he said.
