Within hours of the CBI knocking on the doors of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was back in her fiercest avatar — a street fighter and a formidable adversary – not shying away from protests and dharnas .
Straight after holding a meeting with Mr. Kumar and other senior officials of Kolkata, she arrived in front of Metro Channel at Kolkata’s Esplanade area and sat in protest. With a shawl wrapped around her head and accompanied by a few senior police officers, she took a hurriedly arranged plastic chair and announced that it was a “Satyagraha” to save the Constitution.
This was the same venue where Ms. Banerjee had held a hunger strike during her protest against forcible land acquisition for the Singur small car factory in 2006.
Within minutes hundreds of people gathered at the venue and the crowd swelled to thousands in a couple of hours. People started shouting slogans in support of the Chief Minister.
Senior Trinamool Congress leaders, including Mayor of Kolkata Firhad Hakim, arrived at the venue in the next few minutes and sat around the Chief Minister in circles. Construction of a stage started next to the venue and it is likely to be completed by Monday morning.
