Stepping up its campaign against the eviction drive of the railways targeting hawkers in and around stations across Bengal, the CPM on Thursday announced a mega protest march in Calcutta on Saturday, alleging that the Centre was carrying out "illegal evictions" in violation of court orders and pushing thousands of poor families towards destitution.

The party said separate rallies of railway hawkers would begin from Sealdah and Howrah stations before converging at the Eastern Railway headquarters at Fairlie Place, where a memorandum would be submitted to the general manager of the Eastern Railways.

CPM state secretary Md Salim told reporters in Behrampore after the Murshidabad district committee meeting. CPM Murshidabad district secretary Jamir Molla was also present.

The eviction campaign has triggered protests from hawkers' organisations and Opposition parties, which have accused the BJP-led Centre of pursuing a "bulldozer policy" without rehabilitation. The issue has acquired added political significance following the reported suicides of at least two hawkers in North 24-Parganas and Nadia.

Alleging that the railways was disregarding legal safeguards, Salim said: "The railway authorities are blatantly violating legal provisions and even flouting court orders while carrying out the eviction drive. There is a court order restraining such evictions, but the authorities are saying they are acting on Delhi's instructions."

Several petitions were filed before the Calcutta High court by the Citu-affiliated West Bengal Railways Hawkers' Union against eviction at different stations.

The high court has so far extended stay order upto July 31. The latest stay order was issued for Madhyamgram station on Thursday.

Former CPM MP and Citu Bengal vice president Alakesh Das, who also heads the Railways Hawkers Union, said: "ER authorities are misleading court and have become desperate to rob the rights of people without arranging any alternative source of living as advised by the court earlier."

On the July 4 protest march, Salim said: "This protest march has been called by the CPM state committee to condemn the indiscriminate eviction of hawkers, the abrupt hike in penalties, the demolition of slums and to demand proper rehabilitation of railway hawkers."

He said the march would be a social movement involving people from all walks of life.

"People from all walks of life will take to the streets of Calcutta on this issue. The movement will not remain confined to railway hawkers alone," Salim said.

Claiming that the Sealdah division had one of the largest concentrations of railway hawkers because of Bengal's history, Salim said that many families displaced during the 1947 Partition had survived for generations through hawking.

"People who lost everything in East Bengal after Partition and came here without land or jobs have been earning two meals a day by working as railway hawkers. Now even that livelihood is being snatched away. Before the elections, the BJP promised jobs and income for the unemployed. Instead of providing employment, it is creating more unemployment. Hawkers' stalls at stations are being demolished. Even those who sell food inside trains have been barred from boarding trains and are being fined heavily if they do. A masala muri seller from Nadia was driven to suicide in despair," Salim alleged.

Launching a broader attack on the Centre, he said: "Illegal evictions are taking place everywhere. Whether on railway land or on roads, we are opposed to this bulldozer politics. Governments are elected to build, not to demolish. Demolition has started before any effort to build."

Salim argued that the eviction drive would also adversely affect the rural economy as many of the goods sold by the railway hawkers were sourced from villages.

In an answer to a question, Salim repeated that the eviction drive was "not being carried out according to law".

"There is a court order. We are showing them the court's judgment, but they (the evictors) say they have instructions from Delhi. The government is no longer functioning from the state; everything is being run from the top," he alleged.

Salim also accused the BJP of undermining democratic institutions.

"Public representatives in Trinamool-run municipalities and panchayats are being forced to resign through intimidation. The BJP has little respect for democracy," the CPM veteran alleged.

Salim said the CPM had begun reviewing its organisational performance in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

"The party has started district-wise reviews based on reports from area committees. Today's (Thursday's) Murshidabad district committee meeting discussed the election results. I will attend the Darjeeling district committee meeting in Siliguri on Friday," he said.