The Bangla Bachao Yatra of the CPM, which started from Cooch Behar and is scheduled to end at Kamarhati, saw a decent turnout in the rural pockets of Malda, though its impact in urban areas remained subdued.

The march entered Malda through Harishchandrapur on Tuesday, moving over the next three days through Chanchal, Malatipur, Ratua, Gazole, Malda, Englishbazar and Manikchak.

On Thursday, CPM leaders Minakshi Mukherjee and Shatarup Ghosh led a rally in various localities of Englishbazar and interacted with residents.

The march resumed from Englishbazar on Friday morning. Later in the day, CPM state secretary Md Salim, district leaders Kaushik Mishra, Debajyoti Sinha, along with Mukherjee, Ghosh and Zamir Molla, joined a rally that started from Bochahi in Manikchak and walked for around 2km up to the Bhutni bridge on the Bhutni islet.

The party arranged a public meeting at Uttar Chandipur on the islet, where leaders addressed the crowd and outlined the objectives of the march.

“The rulers in the Centre and in the state are concerned either with religion or with corruption,” Salim said. “The CPM has consistently raised issues related to basic rights—employment, education, healthcare, and human dignity.”

While the CPM maintained that the march drew an “overwhelming response,” other parties scoffed at the event and questioned the turnout.

Abdur Rahim Boxi, the Malda district Trinamool president, said the CPM was exaggerating the turnout.

“Even senior leaders like Salim or Minakshi could not gather more than 300 bikers, and their public meeting had fewer than 2,000 people,” he claimed. “These numbers reflect CPM’s declining relevance in Bengal politics.”

Ajay Ganguly, the BJP president of Malda south (organisational) district, said: “The so-called march is a political farce. CPM is trying to stay afloat in Bengal’s political waters, but the reality is the party has completely lost its relevance in the state.”