File Photo: Former Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee
Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday led a protest against the ruling BJP in the State over alleged attacks on TMC leaders and workers, particularly on her nephew and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Returning to street protests after the Trinamool Congress witnessed a massive defeat in the Assembly elections held in April, Banerjee staged a sit-in demonstration in Kolkata. The protest was organised in response to alleged attacks on party leaders, workers, and vandalisation of party offices across the State.
“We will continue to fight against the BJP. I will fight or die,” she said at the dharna site at Esplanade’s Y-channel in central Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress’s appeal to hold the protest at the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Road was turned down by the Kolkata Police.
“We were not given permission to set up a stage or use microphones,” Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a megaphone.
“We will move court if other parties are allowed to hold political programmes at the venue where we were denied permission to protest, or if they are allowed to hold meetings with microphones. Law cannot be imposed with discrimination,” she said.
The Trinamool chief lashed out at the State’s police forces for allegedly working at the behest of the BJP and helping the saffron party “break” the TMC by threatening the workers. “Some people are betraying us to break the Trinamool Congress,” she said.
“Very soon, all anti-BJP parties will meet in Delhi. Wait for a few days and we will soon announce our country-wide course of action,” Banerjee added, referring to the scheduled INDIA bloc meeting next week.
Notably, Abhishek Banerjee was attacked by a mob in Sonarpur in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district last Saturday while he was on his way to meet family members of a Trinamool Congress worker who was killed in alleged post-poll violence. Stones, eggs, and shoes were hurled at him as he made his way on a motorbike in a narrow approach road to the party worker’s home.
After meeting the family members of the deceased TMC worker, Abhishek pointed to the absence of the police during the incident and alleged that it was a “BJP-sponsored protest”.
Five persons were arrested on Sunday in connection with the attack. Investigators identified the accused after examining video footage of the incident.
Published on June 2, 2026
