A large number of people from West Bengal gathered at Esplanade in the heart of the city for the mega Martyrs’ Day rally of the ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday amid tight security.
Many of them arrived in the city two days earlier for the rally, which will be addressed by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
TMC workers were seen arriving in overflowing local trains at two terminal stations in Howrah and Sealdah holding party flags. At least four and a half thousand policemen have been deployed across the city to maintain law and order in the city during the day.
This year’s rally is also special as it is the first since the party’s decisive victory in the state elections in 2021 and the TMC’s return to power for a third consecutive term.
Banerjee said on Wednesday that the Martyrs’ Day rally would be against “tyrannical rule” at the Centre.
The TMC observes Martyrs’ Day every year on July 21 to commemorate the killing of 13 people by police at a Youth Congress rally against the Left Front government in 1993 when Banerjee was the YC state president.
