TMC requests permission for anti-Union government protests in Delhi
In order to lobby for the distribution of funding under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Trinamool Congress, the current administration of West Bengal, has requested permission from the police to hold three sit-in protests against the Union government in Delhi on October 2 and 3.
The party had previously been refused permission to hold a sit-in protest in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan from September 30 to October 4.
On August 31, TMC Parliament member Derek O’Brien sent three letters to the Parliament Street police station in New Delhi requesting authorization for protests at Jantar Mantar, in front of the house of Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh, and outside the Krishi Bhavan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to Bengal minister Shashi Panja, lost the 2021 assembly elections and is now seeking retribution. Funds for the MGNREGA have been suspended since December 2021. Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the TMC, has called for a sit-in in opposition to this.
He said that they were still waiting for approval from the Delhi Police, which answers to the Union Home Ministry. “We’re holding out. It’s not democratic. TMC will voice opposition to this.
In April, Banerjee proposed a Delhi sit-in protest that would last indefinitely. On July 21, he said that the TMC will conduct a rally in Delhi on October 2.
In March, Kolkata’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee staged a sit-in protest in the city’s center to call for the release of federal funding. She said that she will stage another protest in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s house.
Samik Bhattacharya, a BJP leader, said it was up to the Delhi Police to decide whether to allow the TMC’s demonstrations. Even the head of the opposition in the legislature in West Bengal is required to petition the high court in order to conduct a demonstration.
