‘Arrest me if you want’: Mamata Banerjee says TMC will protest on June 2 ‘even without police permission’ | Today’s news
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her political party will go ahead with a planned session in Kolkata against alleged attacks on party leaders and workers and against eviction by the railways, despite the police’s denial of permission to do so.
“If we are not allowed to hold a dharna there, I will sit wherever I am stopped. I am ready to be arrested,” Banerjee said.
“TMC will hold its protest on June 2 even without police permission, microphones or stage. If we are not allowed to protest in Kolkata, we will protest in Delhi,” PTI quoted her as saying.
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According to the report, Banerjee said that since the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, 12 TMC workers have been killed and that thousands of party activists have been arrested, while many others have been forced to flee their homes.
“Democratic protests have been thwarted,” she said, pointing out that police denied permission for her party’s dharna in the heart of Kolkata against issues such as eviction of shopkeepers and attacks on party workers and alleged irregularities in the NEET exam.
The former Chief Minister of West Bengal reportedly alleged that while common people and small traders lived in fear and shopkeepers were evicted without a proper rehabilitation plan.
Defects in Mamat’s TMC
She alleged that the ruling BJP was using “money and power” to engineer defections in her party. Her statement came after her party was hit by political turmoil following the expulsion of two MLAs for alleged anti-party activities and reports of more leaders being in touch with the BJP.
The former chief minister claimed that the departure of leaders from the party group for vested interests will help rebuild the organization and the TMC will emerge stronger from the crisis.
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On Monday, a meeting with TMC MLAs was canceled after only 20 of the 80 party legislators reached Banerjee’s residence for the meeting.
Targeting the refugees, Banerjee said several leaders who are now leaving the TMC enjoyed power and positions for years but switched sides to protect personal interests.
On Abhishek Banerjee
Banerjee claimed that she was given a message indicating that some leaders would return to the party if her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were removed from the management of the organization.
“I know these people very well. Those who have no ideology or principles cannot dictate terms to us,” she was quoted as saying.
A top TMC leader alleged that the BJP was targeting Abhishek Banerjee because of his rising political stature and alleged that he was recently denied proper medical treatment after he was assaulted.
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On Saturday, Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up in Sonarpur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata, where an angry mob pelted him with eggs and stones when he went there to visit the family of a TMC worker killed, allegedly in post-poll violence.
“Police are being used to threaten MLAs and force local MPs to resign. This is not democracy,” she alleged.
Banerjee also accused the BJP of trying to use the special intensive review (SIR) of electoral rolls and administrative measures to intimidate opposition party supporters, alleging abuse of democratic institutions.
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The BJP is yet to respond to the allegations.
