TMC conducts protest march to Raj Bhavan against 'withholding' of MGNREGA funds by Centre

The march comes days after the party held a two-day protest programme in New Delhi on the same issue

TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport after returning from Delhi, in Kolkata on October 4, 2023. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on October 5 conducted a march to the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata to protest against the alleged withholding of West Bengal's MGNREGA dues by the Centre, even as Governor C. V. Ananda Bose is in the northern part of the State to review the flood situation there.

The march comes days after the party held a two-day protest programme in New Delhi on the same issue.

Led by TMC's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, thousands of party workers and its top functionaries participated in the rally.

The march, commencing at Rabindra Sadan, the city's cultural hub, would conclude at the Governor's house gates, covering a distance of roughly four kilometres.

Carrying posters and placards, TMC activists shouted slogans against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

The TMC had previously sought an appointment with the governor but was denied, as he was in north Bengal. However, the party has written a new letter, requesting a meeting when he returns to the city.

Mr. Banerjee along with TMC's MPs and MLAs, State ministers, and supporters, including MGNREGA workers, had protested at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday, a day after they held a two-hour sit-in at Rajghat on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary before being evicted from there by the police.

They had later taken out a march to the Rural Development Ministry at Krishi Bhawan in the National Capital, where they had an appointment with Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

However, around an hour and a half after going to the Bhawan, TMC leaders claimed that the MoS refused to meet them, saying she would not meet more than five representatives.

Lending support to Trinamool Congress' protest march to Raj Bhavan, a pro-TMC platform of academics criticised the Centre for "muzzling" the voice of the people of West Bengal.

Educationists Forum, a body of former vice-chancellors and senior professors of various universities, said the Raj Bhavan has "emerged as an iconic display of impish disruptions, staged by the chancellor in the sector of higher education".

Referring to the confrontation between the governor and the state over the appointment of interim VCs in State-run universities, the forum described Raj Bhavan's action as "illegal".

"We consider it necessary to voice our apprehension and protest against the Union government through the march to Raj Bhavan. Today's protest march is not just a political commotion. It is the reflection of the anxiety and anguish of society as a whole, it is the voice of the people that affirms the demand for Constitutional order in the country and the rightful dues of labour forces of West Bengal," a statement by the forum said.