Kolkata, Bringing out an impressive joint rally here against the new citizenship law and proposed nationwide NRC, leaders of the Congress and Left parties on Friday asserted only they could provide the right alternative to the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP in the state.
With the flags of the Left parties and Congress fluttering side by side in the cold breeze and their top leaders marching shoulder to shoulder during the around 2.5 kilometer march, the combine claimed only they could fight the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens exercise.
Amidst large numbers of posters and banners running down the CAA, NRC and National Population Register, the rally started from Subodh Mullick Square in central Kolkata and culminated at Mahajati Sadan.
The marchers also canvassed for the nationwide general strike called on January 8.
Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, CPI-M state Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and state Congress chief Somen Mitra were among those in the vanguard of the march.
Mitra said their joint struggle will continue till the Central government scrapped the CAA.
“No other political force is there except the Left parties and Congress to meaningfully and successfully fight against the CAA and the NRC,” he said.
Bose pointed out that other than the Trinamool and the BJP, almost all political parties in the state haveA participated in the rally.
Addressing the assembled workers, Mishra said neither the Trinamool nor the BJP could provide an alternative.
“There are some people who are crossing oVer to the Trinamool as they are opposed to the BJP, again some others are going to the BJP out of antipathy for the Trinamool. But neither of them can provide an alternative,” he said.
The Left parties and Congress had sealed up a seat sharing pact during the 2016 Assembly polls in the state, but failed to dislodge the Trinamool from power.
They failed to stitch an alliance in the general elections held earlier this year. The Congress saw its tally halved to two from the four seats they won in 2014, while the Left Front failed to open its account.
Since then, they have again been trying to come together. They joined forces during the recent assembly bypolls, but could not make much headway.
Menawhile, the BJP scoffed at the rally, saying it was “produced and directed” by Trinamool supremo and Chief Minister Banerjee.
“She wants to divide the opposition votes. So for quite some time she has been trying to boost the morale of the Left parties so that they can take to the streets on various issues. The Trinamool workers now never attack Left cadres and their party offices,” said BJP national Secretary Rahul Sinha.
