KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon to protest the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.Senior leaders of the party, including TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, joined Banerjee as she led thousands of people in the march, which began from College Square in central Kolkata around 1.45 pm. The march will terminate at Dorina Crossing in Dharmatala.The nearly 3-km route was wrapped in security, with nearly 1,500 police personnel guarding the barricaded pavements and adjacent buildings.Vehicular traffic was diverted along multiple arterial roads in the central parts of the city because of the programme.Similar demonstrations have also been organised by the TMC in the district headquarter towns across the state.The protests are being held a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the state.Speaking at a public meeting after the rally Banerjee lashed out at the Centre on what she called, its policy of harassing and mistreating Bengali-speaking people across the country and warned the saffron party of dire political consequences if it did not put an immediate stop to such actions.Banerjee also alleged that the ruling dispensation at the Centre was “influencing the Election Commission of India” to achieve its political ambitions across states.“I will challenge the central government notices which were surreptitiously sent to BJP-ruled states to harass Bengali-speaking people and detain them at the slightest suspicion,” the Trinamool Congress supremo alleged.“I am ashamed and disheartened at the Centre and the BJP’s attitude towards Bengalis,” Banerjee claimed.
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