Left Front and Congress organise a rally in Kolkata Saturday.The Left Front and Congress parties organised a rally in Kolkata on Saturday to protest the murder and alleged gangrape of a Dalit woman in Hathras.
Supporters of several political outfits, including Students’ Federation of India, All India Students’ Union and All India Progressive Women’s Association took part in the rally that started at Moulali and culminated at Esplanade. They carried placards with slogans such as “Defeat fascist BJP at Centre and TMC in Bengal” and “Down with fascists who throttle democracy”.
The protesters broke police barricades near Esplanade Metro Channel and raised slogans demanding justice for the Hathras victim. They also protested against the increasing incidents of rape and crime against women in West Bengal.
Later, they torched effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Esplanade crossing.
“We burnt Modi’s effigy for the attack on democratic forces and his failure to curb the rise in the number of rape cases in the country, mostly in UP. We are also burning the effigy of the Trinamool Congress chief for the law-and-order breakdown in the state and increase in attacks on women,” said SFI leader Subhajit Sarkar.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose and Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Abdul Mannan also issued a joint statement saying that they will protest against the BJP and TMC on October 6. They will organise rallies in Kolkata and every other district to protest against atrocities against women. Last week too they had organised a joint rally to protest against the new farm legislation.
Political agitation in the state against the Hathras incident gained momentum on Friday, a day after the Congress declared nationwide protests following the manhandling of party leader Rahul Gandhi by UP Police. The party blocked the intersection of Taki Road and Itinda Road in North 24 Parganas’ Basirhat area. Congress leaders in Birbhum organised road blockades at Chitra More in Bolpur. CPM’s students’ wing SFI also held protests across the state on Friday to condemn the UP government’s handling of the Hathras incident.
With PTI
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