BackTMC MGNREGA protest begins today, party MPs, state ministers to hold a sit-in at Rajghat
TMC has announced that its MPs and state ministers will hold a peaceful sit-in at Rajghat on October 2. The party said it will also organise a peaceful rally of the MGNREGA job card holders on Tuesday
PremiumTrinamool Congress (TMC) MPs and state ministers will hold a peaceful sit-in at Rajghat on Monday (October 2) to protest against denial of MGNREGA and housing scheme funds to Bengal government. The party will also organise a peaceful rally of the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme) job card holders on Tuesday.
Both the programmes will be live streamed, the party said.
"The agitation will continue till the rightful dues of the people of Bengal are released by the Centre," TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said, who reached Delhi on Sunday ahead of the party’s planned protest. Nearly 49 buses, which left Kolkata and other districts of West Bengal on Saturday night, would start reaching the national capital by early Monday, the party added.
"Tomorrow, we will be going to Raj Ghat to pay obesience to Mahatma Gandhi. We will start our protest from there. MGNREGA or Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which is a vital objective of our protest, has a symbolic relation with Gandhiji. Hence we are starting the protest from there," TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said after a meeting of top TMC leaders at Sougata Roy's residence to discuss on the strategy for Monday's protest.
"In the evening Abhishek Banerjee will hold a press conference. Following that we will inform about our schedule on October 3 in detail," he added.
The party Sunday claimed that buses were mobilised after the Indian Railways refused to rent out special trains to take the workers to Delhi pleading unavailability of rakes.
The TMC general secretary said that there were several attempts to block the protest by declining permissions, and cancelling trains and flights.
“The BJP govt shamelessly denied to provide a special train after accepting the deposit. This blatant obstruction of WB's right to protest for their rightful dues is a glaring testament to their FEAR," Banerjee posted on X.
"Time and again, permissions were denied for the protest. Trains and flights were denied or cancelled," ANI reported Banerjee as saying.
Banerjee claimed that the Centre was trying to "crush" the movement of the poor people of West Bengal in Delhi by cancelling trains and "deploying the ED and CBI".
He said the permission for the protest at Jantar Mantar has been given verbally and written permission was still pending. "Section 144 has been imposed in that area (Jantar Mantar)."
The TMC general secretary said though the state government had sent verified lists of beneficiaries in December 2022, the Centre is yet to make payments. "It is established that the BJP is forcibly stopping payment of dues of the people of Bengal," the Diamond Harbour MP added.
Whereas, the BJP has been asserting that the payments were stopped due to "irregularities".
"Refusal to allot a special train, cancellation of flight, denial of permission for holding the protest meeting in Delhi, all indicate their attempt to stop the voice of the state's people," he said.
Earlier on saturday, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien claimed that a Delhi-bound flight of party leaders, who wanted to join the MGNREGA protest in the national capital on October 2 and 3, has been cancelled.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the TMC leader said, “First, they abruptly cancel special train services from Kol to Del to prevent those who were to travel to participate in protests on Oct 2 & 3, demanding 10s of 1000s of crores owed to Bengal by BJP Union govt."
“Now a flight gets cancelled! Try as you might, we WILL TAKE YOU ON," Derek O'Brien further wrote on the microblogging site.
Several TMC workers were injured on Sunday when a bus carrying them from West Bengal to Delhi to take part in MGNREGA protest met with an accident at Kodarma in Jharkhand, PTI reported
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