Malda, Jan. 15: It was the mother of all demonstrations that had taken place in the district headquarters for ages.
With 125 loudspeakers blaring, more than 5,000 Congress workers, led by the party bigwigs, today not only cut the work of the Malda zilla parishad short, but the district collectorate and municipality as well.
Angry government employees, unable to work because of the raucous agitation carried around by the loudspeakers, came out in hordes in protest. Some of them even barged into the district magistrate’s office, demanding to know why the administration had granted the permission for the agitation.
“The noise was unbearable. I personally met the district magistrate and requested him to seize the microphones, but he did not even lift a finger,” Brajen Mishra, president of the Collectorate Employees’ Association, said.
The district Congress committee had called the “zilla parishad gherao” to protest alleged financial irregularities in the CPM-led body. The party also used the agitation to launch its campaign for the upcoming panchayat elections.
Among the leaders who participated in the agitation were A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Somen Mitra, both former Pradesh Congress Committee presidents. Party general secretaries, Manas Bhunia and Sabitri Mitra, district president Rubi Noor and all Congress MLAs were also there.
Mitra, in a speech, alleged that the zilla parishad had failed to “account for Rs 2,000 crore” it had spent over the years. “Farmers are not getting fair price for their produce and the tea gardens are closing down one after another in north Bengal because of the state government’s flawed policies,” he said.
The Congress leader asked to “keep all this in mind” while voting in the panchayat elections.
Mitra, aware of the Trinamul’s strong presence in the district, took a dig at Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee, calling her an “opportunist”.
“She supported the BJP’s communal line following the Gujarat riots only to get a berth in the Union ministry. Secular people will never trust her again,” Mitra said.
“We would rather remain in the Opposition for another 1,000 years than go for an electoral alliance with the Trinamul or the BJP,” Mitra said, to thunderous cheers of party supporters.
Ghani Khan said: “The people have only learnt to resort to corrupt practices from the Left Front, which has been ruling the state for the last 25 years. The CPM too has taken recourse to corruption to remain in power.” He again called upon the people to “throw the Left Front government in the Bay of Bengal”.
The 125 loudspeakers were strung on trees and lampposts within 100 metres of the collectorate, where the district magistrate has his office.
District magistrate Ashok Bala refused to comment when asked why the administration had permitted the agitation. Malda superintendent of police Pankaj Dutta, too, declined comment.
More than 300 policemen were deployed the area, but the agitation passed off without any incident.
