Continuing with the ongoing game of see-saw with its key political rival — the BJP — the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to step up its campaign against the “draconian” Land Bill in West Bengal.
The party has decided to block every major road and busy intersection in Kolkata and the districts of the State on April 8, demanding immediate revocation of the Bill.
The rally will start around 4 p.m. from Moulali in central Kolkata and move towards Gandhi Statue, close to Eden Gardens.
“This is a black ordinance. We will wear black cloth and black badges to protest against this ordinance,” said Partha Chatterjee, secretary general of TMC. In 2013, when UPA II introduced the Land Acquisition Act, the TMC voted against the Bill in the floor of the Rajya Sabha.
However, the TMC’s equation with the BJP has been perceptively changing over the last few weeks. While the TMC has ensured safe passage of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha, the Opposition claimed that the BJP is obliging the TMC by becoming less stringent in the Chit Fund probe.
By deciding to protest, the TMC has indicated that it has not digressed from the path of resisting key BJP-drafted Bills in Bengal, even while backing the rest in Delhi.
