Trinamool faction, Congress plan to show strength in Kolkata on Martyrs Day

TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee inspecting the arrangements on the eve of Martyrs Day celebrations of 13 Youth Congress workers killed in police firing in 1993 in Kolkata on July 20, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI

The stage is set for the Martyrs’ Day rally on Tuesday (July 21, 2026), which has turned out to be an opportunity for non-opposition parties in West Bengal to flex their political muscles for the first time since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power nearly two months ago.

With the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in crisis, the occasion is an opportunity for two factions of the party — the former led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the rebel group led by Ritabrata Banerjee — to rally their supporters in a public appearance.

Mrs. Mamata Banerjee visited the place outside Birla Planetarium where her faction is arranging a meeting. Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee made a similar visit to the Mayo Road location where his Trinamool rebel group is holding a rally. Congress is also preparing for the meeting it is hosting.

Each group claims to be the “original” standard bearer of Martyrs’ Day. Senior leaders of all three political groups are trying to draw crowds in a show of strength. All three meetings were arranged within a radius of 3 km. Their internal power struggles prevented the opposition from consolidating.

On July 21, 1993, police under the then left-wing government opened fire on protesters, killing 13 and injuring about 100 people. They demanded that voter ID cards become the only mandatory ID for elections. Ms. Banerjee was leading the march at the time as the incoming leader of the Youth Congress.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari released a report saying that the previous Trinamool government did not take any action against perpetrators of violence and instead rewarded some of them.

“Mamata Banerjee will remember the martyrs and show us the way forward for the days to come,” said Kunal Ghosh, an MLA in Ms Banerjee’s faction. Anyone contesting the Trinamool event on Tuesday (July 21, 2026) will honor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and not the martyrs, he added.

The rebel Trinamool faction said the families of the 13 martyrs are likely to be present at their stage. “All of us who could have been martyrs on that day (July 21, 1993) will be on this stage,” said Firhad Hakim, formerly a close confidant of Ms. Banerjee and now a member of the rival group.

Mrs. Mamata Banerjee used to display her political might on this day every year. Politicians and intellectuals gathered around her on Martyrs’ Day in the heart of Kolkata after she came to power. Thousands of people thronged around the stage at the iconic Victoria House Esplanade to catch a glimpse of the Trinamool chairman.

This year, Ms. Banerjee warned her supporters not to be misled by the police and made sure they joined her group’s meeting outside the Birla Planetarium.

Published – 20 Jul 2026 22:04 IST