TMC announces indefinite sit-in outside Raj Bhavan

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee announced an indefinite sit-in on Thursday in front of the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of Bengal’s governor CV Ananda Bose hours after he flew off to visit flood affected areas of North Bengal and then to Delhi.

Banerjee announced the sit-in after thousands of party functionaries and its top leadership marched up to the British-era edifice to protest the alleged withholding of West Bengal's MGNREGA dues by the Centre.

The huge show of strength brought traffic to a standstill in the heart of the busy metropolis.

The march comes days after the party held a two-day protest programme in New Delhi to draw attention to the alleged delayed payment of dues towards the MGNREGA programme which guarantees 100 days of work to the poor and for a scheme which helps build houses for poor families.

"We had sought a meeting with the Governor, but he did not grant us an audience. He has gone to North Bengal. It seems as if he regards us as bonded laborers. Today, we have come here, and we won't end this demonstration until he meets with us," Banerjee said addressing the gathering.

The party termed the Governor’s absence from the city on a day when the TMC had given notice of its intention to hand over a memorandum to him and his suggestion that a delegation of TMC leaders fly down to meet him in North Bengal, as reflective of a “Zamindari” (feudal mindset).

TMC Parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O'Brien said the suggestion was impractical and reflected the "zamindari culture" against which the party is fighting.

Sources in the Raj Bhavan, however, pointed out that travelling to meet flood-affected poor people was reflective of a “desire to go to the ’zamin’ (soil) and it is in no way a ‘zamindari’ mindset, but rather a desire to connect with the trinamool (grassroots).” The sources claimed that the Governor had given the TMC three alternatives – to meet on another day or to hand over the party’s memorandum to a senior representative of the Governor or else to send a TMC delegation to meet Bose at the Siliguri Circuit House.

Governor Bose in Siliguri in an apparent reference to remarks that he has run wy from Raj Bhavan, said “when I heard that my people were suffering the ravages of flood, I took a flight and reached them as fast as I could. In a way, I flew away”.

Banerjee on his part claimed the Governor, as the representative of the Centre, owed an explanation to the people of Bengal.

"We have two clarifications to seek from the Bengal Governor. Firstly, have 20 lakh workers from Bengal worked under MGNREGA or not? Secondly, if they have, what legal basis has been used to withhold their wages for the past two years? We will persist with our peaceful protest outside Raj Bhavan.

"I will stay here and won't move an inch until the honorable Governor meets our delegation and answers these two questions," the Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour said.

He also posted on X, "After raising our voices in Delhi, we seek justice from the ZAMINDARS of BJP! How long will it take for the self-proclaimed custodians of democracy to answer the people? For how long will you keep running away from the people? Clock is ticking. Bengal is waiting".

The TMC leader also announced the sit-in protest would continue in a staggered manner, providing some relief at night between 9 am and 11 am when sloganeering and usage of loudspeakers would be stopped.

He himself would stay through the nights as part of the protest Banerjee said, adding that a 25-member delegation comprising party leaders and job card holders would meet officials at Raj Bhavan and hand over more than 50 lakh letters from "deprived MGNREGA job card holders".

The TMC leader along with TMC's MPs and MLAs, state ministers, and supporters, including MGNREGA workers, had earlier protested at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday, a day after they held a two-hour sit-in at Rajghat on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary before being evicted from there by the police.

They had later taken out a march to the Rural Development Ministry at Krishi Bhawan in the national capital, where they had an appointment with Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

However, around an hour and a half after going to the Bhawan, TMC leaders claimed that the minister refused to meet them, saying she would not meet more than five representatives.

Lending support to Trinamool Congress' protest march to Raj Bhavan, a pro-TMC platform of academics criticised the Centre for "muzzling" the voice of the people of West Bengal.

Educationists Forum, a body of former vice-chancellors and senior professors of various universities, said the Raj Bhavan has "emerged as an iconic display of impish disruptions, staged by the chancellor in the sector of higher education".

Referring to the confrontation between the governor and the state over the appointment of interim VCs in state-run universities, the forum described Raj Bhavan's action as "illegal".