Mamata at the rally on Saturday. Her right hand has been put in a cast because of the injuries she suffered after the truck-hit on her convoy while she was returning from the Lalgarh rally on August 9. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Calcutta, Aug. 28: Mamata Banerjee today announced that the Trinamul Congress’s student wing would set up a “Ma-Mati-Manush brigade” to help people in distress and “counter the CPM’s armed cadres who have unleashed terror”.

Mamata told a Trinamul Chhatra Parishad rally at Mayo Road that “at least five to six students from (every) college and higher secondary school in the state would be inducted into the brigade”.

“The brigade’s primary job will be to identify people who are in trouble and in need of assistance. If they need hospitalisation, the brigade members would rush them to a nearby hospital. Besides, if a poor student is unable to carry on his or her studies, the brigade members will help him or her with financial assistance,” the Trinamul Congress chief said.

Mamata said the brigade members would “constantly campaign against the ruling party (the CPM) to isolate it from the masses”.

Trinamul sources, however, said Mamata’s plan was aimed at “winning the hearts of students and youths ahead of the Assembly elections next year”. The Trinamul chief did not specify when the brigade would be formed.

A CPM state committee member called Mamata’s announcement a “stunt”. He said the railway minister had floated the idea to “get closer to students and the youths before the Assembly polls”.