Huge ground-swelling crowds were seen at the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s meetings in Jhalda and Balrampur. After being attacked in Nandigram, Chief Minister held the first meeting at Jhalda for Baghmundi assembly constituency on Monday. In that meeting, the crowd had literally no space left empty. Lots of people were seen standing on the roof, on the sidewalk, listening to the CM’s speech. They stood for a long time even under the scorching-hot Sun. The enthusiasm of the TMC-activists in today’s meeting was eye-catching. After Jhalda, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee held a meeting in Balrampur. The cheering from the crowd was so loud that many people stood in their places and tried to come nearer to the stage to listen to Mamata’s speech.

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Recently, Amit Shah had to cancel his rally at Jhargram over a technical reason, which was actually due to the poor attendance at the BJP rally organized at the place, as confirmed by local sources. The rally of Adityanath held at Purulia also witnessed barren or ‘next to nil’ participation with organizers shouting over mikes for the few people attending to stay back.

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CM Banerjee held a meeting in support of Trinamool candidate Sushant Mahato of Baghmundi Assembly constituency at Jhalda Junior High School ground and then in support of Trinamool candidate Shantiram Mahato of Balrampur. This was the first public meeting of the Trinamool Supremo after being attacked in Nandigram. Although the public meeting had started at 1:30 pm afternoon, numerous processions had started arriving from 10 am onwards. Before the arrival of the Chief Minister, the meeting place was filled to the full capacity, upto the brim.

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As soon as the Chief Minister’s helicopter appeared in the sky, the crowd greeted the Chief Minister by cheering, waving their hands, and clapping. Sitting in a wheelchair, she got off the helicopter. Seeing her, the activists started cheering “Didi, Didi”, resembling a loud uproar. Sitting in a wheelchair, the Chief Minister climbed the stage with a ramp.

A local resident at Jhalda, Ramakrishna Soren, 80, had arrived at the meeting place to meet the Chief Minister. Adding a rhetoric, Ramakrishna said, “We never thought about what Didi did for Jangalmahal. The list of developments is much longer. She did many things before we even asked for them. She came to us with a broken leg, and we cannot fight for her in our own village?”

Sarita Layek, Tapan Layek, and Sadhana Chopra among many others were listening to the speech of their Didi (CM Mamata Banerjee) standing under the smoldering Sun on the roof of the house next to the meeting place. They said, “Didi has brought development for everyone. She thinks for the poor. So we want Didi again for the good of the common people and the poor.”

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On the same day, the Chief Minister held a public meeting in support of Shantiram Mahato at Balrampur. As there was no empty-place available in the filled-up meeting place, many people stood on the side Purulia-Barakar road and listened to the speech of the Trinamool Supremo. At the public meeting, all the students, youths, and women raised the slogan of ‘Khela hobe’. As soon as the Chief Minister got up on the stage in a wheelchair, the women & all the supporters greeted her with loud reverberating shouts. The meeting place of Bengal CM was buzzing and booming with the repetitions of the slogan- “Bangla nijer meyek chae” translating into “Bengal wants its own daughter”.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared at the public meeting in Jhalda that some parties (irrelevant) like AJSU were contesting from Baghmundi adding that Congress will possibly broker over a seat for the BJP. She further added, addressing the people hearing her at the rally, “You will not give that opportunity. Just show them the door outside. Do not waste the votes by voting for someone else.” She also said, “I have nominated Sushant Mahato in Baghmundi. Sushant is a good person.”  Even at the end of the meeting, thousands of workers and supporters present at the place chanted slogans alongwith Mamata.