The ongoing agitation by state government employees in West Bengal enters 100-days on Saturday. These employees have been siting at the Shahid Minar (Ochterlony Monument) in Kolkata.
The members of the Sangrami Jautha Mancha (the platform) plans to take out a protest march on Saturday (May 6, 2023), against the defiant state government. The march will start from Hazra and travel through Harish Chatterjee Street, Harish Mukherjee Road and culminate at Hazra. “Tomorrow’s agitation will shake the state government. It’s a we expect over one lakh people to participate in tomorrow’s agitation,” Sougata Lahiri, members of Sangrami Jautha Mancha.
Speaking with the representative of Nonsense Talk News in Kolkata, Sanat Jha and Sudhakar Ray, members of Sangrami Jautha Mancha said, “The protest march will have big impact on the West Bengal state government that has been defiant towards us.”
The platform members have decided to continue with their crusade against state government as they say. “DA is our right and we shall get it.” Saturday’s protest march is just another initiative by the agitators to awaken the government that has been defiant towards these employees. “We don’t know if the state government will awake after Saturday’s protest march which is going to be really big but we want to assure all that our agitation will continue as we will see an end to this, Mamata Banerjee may turn a deaf ear and blind eye to our demands but we too vouch to get our demands, till them the agitation will continue,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, member of Sagrami Jautha Mancha.
On Wednesday, state government employees protesting for their demand of Dearness Allowance (DA) intensified their agitation against the “illegal” transfers. Earlier, the Mamata Banerjee government had transferred six people at Nabanna. On Wednesday, two people were transferred at Khaddo Bhawan (state food building) at Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata. “We are protesting against the autocratic order and will see an end to it, our agitation will not stop until the state government revokes the order,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, member of Sangrami Joutha Mancha that had paralysed the functioning of Khaddo Bhawan. “We will not let any work take place.
“We shall go for a bigger agitation if the state government continues to transfer. The state government should revoke the transfer order immediately,” said Arjun Sengupta, member of Sangrami Joutha Mancha.
“Our demand is revocation of the transfer orders,” added Mukherjee. Another member of the platform, Sudhakar Ray added, “These transfers are illegal and state government is showing a vindictive attitude towards us.”
Earlier this month, during the protest at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the members of the platform had expressed their dismay over the attitude of state government. “We work for Mamata Banerjee and she calls us barking dogs,” said Mukerjee and others present there.
On May 6, 2023, the members of Sangrami Jautha Mancha are planing to take out a protest march. More about this as the story breaks. Stay tuned to http://www.nonsensetalk.news for latest developments and happenings.
Protests, agitations are common at the Jantar Mantar. We journalists make regular visits to the venue to cover political rallies, mass agitations over social issues. Past two days Jantar Mantar witnessed a different kind of protest. Over 500 state government employees working across various offices in West Bengal staged an agitation at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar demanding the Dearness Allowances (DA). Their agitation entered into 75th day on April 11, 2023 (Tuesday) in Kolkata where protesters are sitting on a dharna at the iconic Shahid Minar (Ochterlony Monument). The first batch of ‘Sangrami Jautha Mancha’ members comprising of around 300 people left for Delhi by Howrah Rajdhani Express on Saturday and another 200 members left for Delhi by Sealdah Rajdhani Express on Sunday. “The members of ‘Sangrami Jautha Mancha’ will sit on a dharna at the Jantar Mantar on April 10 and 11, 2023. We are compelled to take this decision as our state government is in a complete defiance mood,” Informed Bhaskar Ghosh, convener of the Sangrami Joutho Mancha. The Delhi Police had issued permits from 10 am to 4 pm for both days.
Demands at a glance: 1) Demand for the Dearness Allowances (DA). 2) Permanent job for the contractual workers. 3) Focus on the teachers’ recruitment scam.
Besides their demand for DA, the agitation also focused against the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam that has ashamed Bengal. Former Education Minister Partha Chaterjee, a close confidant of Trinamool Supremo Mamata Banerjee and nephew turned party General Secretary Abhiskek Banerjee, was the first catch by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). One of the biggest scam ever, numerous Trinamool leaders – From Kuntal Ghosh, a youth wing Hooghly district leader to party leader Shantanu Banerjee, the list is endless. Close confidant of the Banerjee’s, SujayKrishna Bhadra was served a notice asking him to appear before the investigating agencies at Nizam Palace in Kolkata. Bhadra who was once the all-in-all of nephew’s company, ‘Leaps & Bounds’, was mentioned as ‘Kalighat r Kaku’ (Kalighat’s Uncle) by Ghosh during the interrogation. Infact, Kuntal had named Shantanu who raised money from the job-seekers.
However, the members of the forum had to postpone their plans to meet and submit a memorandum to President Draupadi Murmu, Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharama and few other politicians as they were out of station. According to members of the forum, the meeting will commence later. On Tuesday, they went to submit the memorandum at the respective offices.
“We have come to Delhi not just for the DA but we also want to raise our voices against the teachers’ recruitment scam. We stand beside them. So many deserving candidates were deprived of their jobs because they could not pay the money,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, member, Sangrami Jautha Mancha: (See the video)
Mukherjee also mentioned the attitude of the state government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had once said, “gheu gheu kore laabh nei. aami gheu gheu ke bhoi paina…aami jaani ki korte hobe…” (Don’t bark, it will not help…I am not scared of barking…I know what to do). “She compared us with barking dogs…We are asking for our rights not begging,” added Mukherjee: (See Video)
Slogans like, “Sangrami Jautha Manch long live” or “khela mela shob e holo, DA r taka kothai gelo… artho montri jwabab chai…jwabab dao” made Jantar Mantar ‘hot’, their voices could be heard from the main road leading towards the venue. Their slogans, songs and poems reflected their conviction to fight out till their last breath.
Snehashis, member of Sangrami Jautha Mancha had a hard hitting message for the Chief Minister, “We run the government and you are depriving us of our genuine demands. We know everybody’s secrets. Stop this at once else get ready to face more intense agitation in the coming days.” Another member of the forum, Shantanu Mondal said, “Our demand is DA and we want to show Mamata Banerjee that we are united and are capable to fight for our rights.”
The agitation in the capital ended on Tuesday on a strong note. The state government may call them “barking dogs” or “cheats who had managed to secure their jobs by palm greasing of the Left”, but the members of the Sangrami Jautha Mancha will stand united for their rights and they will see an end to their already 75-days ‘dharna’ at the Shahid Minar in Kolkata. “We are ready to sit for many more days,” said S Som. Mamata Banerjee may call this “choto ghotona” (petty incident), “sajano ghotona” (concocted incident) or “bohiragoto der kaaj” (work of aliens), her three cult ‘catch phrases’ but the spirits of the forum is quite high and they are ready to take the state government’s ‘defiance’ head on.
Nonsense Talk News 