Kolkata: After taking a U-turn and refusing to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, On Thursday, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will sit on a dharna to protest against the post-poll violence which has allegedly rendered several TMC workers homeless. The dharna will begin at 1 pm on Thursday, Times Now channel reported.
also read: Mamata Banerjee not attending Narendra Modi's swearing-in
The West Bengal Chief Minister will stage her dharna in front of Naihati municipality in Kolkata. Naihati was among several regions of the state, which witnessed rampant violence in the aftermath of Lok Sabha election results, where BJP increased its tally from one West Bengal seat in 2014 to 18 in 2019. The TMC managed to score victory at only 22 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in its bastion state.
The TMC claimed that after the election results, Bhartiya Janta Party workers vandalised shops, burnt fires and ransacked houses belonging to TMC workers in Bijupur and Naihati. Police sources said TMC workers were beaten up allegedly by BJP supporters in Coochbehar's Sitai, Titagarh in North 24 Parganas and New Town area near Kolkata.
Banerjee, who had earlier agreed to attend the swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi, declined to attend the event after learning that families of BJP workers killed during the political violence in the state have also been invited for the event.
"Congratulations, new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji. It was my plan to accept the 'Constitutional invitation' and attend the oath-taking ceremony. However, in the last hour, I am seeing media reports that the BJP is claiming people have been murdered in political violence in Bengal. This is completely untrue. There have been no political murders in Bengal. These deaths may have occurred due to personal enmity, family quarrels and other disputes; nothing related to politics. There is no such record with us," she wrote on Twitter.