TMC protest in Bengal LIVE: Mamata sits on dharna to protest post-poll violence

TMC protest in Bengal LIVE: Despite having no police permission to hold the sit-in protest, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has remained defiant that her party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), will go ahead with the demonstrations against the alleged attacks on party leaders and workers post the Assembly elections, and the Railways' hawker eviction drive. Track TMC protest in Bengal LIVE Updates only at Livemint.

Speaking about not getting permission to hold the sit-in protest, Mamata Banerjee declared that she will sit, wherever stopped. Mamata Banerjee also said that 12 TMC workers had been killed since the Assembly elections and that thousands of party activists had been arrested, while many others had been forced to flee their homes.

“Why are people frightened? Why are people anxious? The entire atmosphere has changed. Kolkata and Bengal have been handed over to lumpens. If we are not allowed to hold a dharna there, I will sit wherever I am stopped. I am ready to be arrested,” the former chief minister said.

Meanwhile, dozens of traders and hawkers have protested and blocked railway tracks at at Gobardanga Railway Station in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district against eviction drive to root out encroachers.

TMC PROTEST IN BENGAL LIVE:

Mamata Banerjee protests from a bus stand:

4:05 pm: ‘My regret is those who received my support in their lives now aligning with traitor,’ the TMC supremo said as a veiled attack on her former party member Suvendu Adhikari, who led the BJP's campaign against TMC in the 2026 elections and replaced her as the state's chief minister.

4:00 pm: Mamata, from her dharna location, has claimed that the BJP has rigged counting in 177 of 294 assembly seats to win Bengal elections.

3:28 pm: TMC turncoat Tapas Roy, who is now a BJP MLA, has claimed that the party will soon be split into two as had happened earlier with the Shiv Sena. His statement is similar to another disgruntled TMC spokesperson, Riju Dutta, who has claimed that 60 elected TMC MLAs are ready to form a new party.

3:00 pm: Mamata sits on dharna in central Kolkata to protest against alleged post-poll attacks on party workers and leaders following the BJP's victory in recent assembly elections.

Banerjee reached the dharna site at Esplanade's Y-channel after the TMC's appeal to hold the protest at the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Road was turned down by the Kolkata Police.

"We were not given permission to set up a stage or use microphones," Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a megaphone.

The protest was marked by chaos, with TMC workers shouting slogans amid the former chief minister's speech.

1: 35 pm: BJP leader Rahul Sinha has questioned the TMC for its intent and legality over the planned protest, highlighting that no permission was given for it.

Rahul Sinha said, “If she has the intention to protest, then she can do a protest. It is up to the police to decide whether to give permission for it or not. If one has police permission, anyone can stage a protest; there is no objection to that. But what exactly would she be protesting for? As of today, everyone involved in the incident has been apprehended – the entire episode was orchestrated by Abhishek Banerjee himself, solely to malign the BJP and to bolster his demand for enhanced security.”

“However, this entire charade has now been exposed. Therefore, no matter how much she protests, the public is not going to be swayed by her rhetoric,” he said.

1:10 pm: Mamata Banerjee has said that if she was not allowed to hold the protest in Kolkata, she would go to Delhi.

1:09 pm: Ahead of the protest, Mamata Banerjee claimed that she was sent a message whcih suggested that some leaders who have left the party would return if her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was removed from the organisation's leadership.

“I know these people very well. Those who have no ideology or principles cannot dictate terms to us,” she said.