Ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, is set to begin a series of protests against the passage of the contentious farm bills. It will hit the streets starting today in Kolkata. Parallel protests are currently going on outside the Parliament.
On Monday, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, two of the party’s senior Rajya Sabha members were suspended for a week for unruly behavior that took place as the upper house of the Parliament passed two controversial bills relating to the agriculture sector on Sunday.
Condemning the two bills, Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee said that the TMC will launch a series of protests against the bills every day starting from Tuesday.
Banerjee further said that the party will stage continuous protests starting from Tuesday. On the same day, the party’s women wing will hold a dharna near Gandhi statue in Kolkata. The youth wing will stage a protest on Wednesday followed by farmers and labourers.
The minister of state for health in West Bengal, Chandrima Bhattacharya would lead the Tuesday’s protests in central Kolkata. The TMC chief also called on all parties to unitedly oppose the farm bills and assured her party’s support in this aspect.
Meanwhile, to protest the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, the Congress and the Left Front have also decided to hit the streets on 25th of September.
Eight suspended MPs list include two MPs from the TMC, three from Congress party, two from CPI(M) and one is from Aam Aadmi Party as well.
The Union home ministry, in the Unlock 4 guidelines, had earlier said that political functions could be held with a ceiling of 100 people from September 21st. In this context, Mamta Banerjee asserted that because of the pandemic, there is a restriction on the number of people that can gather. Hence, she stated that TMC will stage the protest following protocols and not bring in a large number of people.
