The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday claimed that the BJP-led Union government has denied it permission to hold a protest rally in the national capital in October against the central government for blocking funds of Bengal under MGNREGA and other schemes.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had on July 21, the party's Martyrs' Day rally, had announced that the party will launch a massive protest in Delhi on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2) against the central government for blocking funds meant for Bengal under MGNREGA and other schemes.
"We had announced long ago that we would hold a protest rally on October 2 in Delhi against the central government's decision to block funds under MGNREGA. We had sent an application to Delhi Police seeking permission to hold the programme at Ram Leela Maidan. We had sought the ground from September 30 till October 4," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
The TMC leader said they had recently received a communication from Delhi Police saying it should have been sought months ago, and thus, 'permission can't be granted.' "We feel this is a ploy by the BJP to stop the Bengal's protest programme in New Delhi. This is an attempt to scuttle the voice of Bengal and democratic protests. We all know that Delhi Police reports to the Union government," he said.
Reacting to the allegations, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC should not speak about democratic protests.
"When BJP applies for permission for democratic protests, TMC and its police department deny it. The BJP doesn't believe in such vendetta politics; only Delhi Police can say why they were denied permission," he said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had held a two-day sit-in in Kolkata in March against the Centre's alleged move of not releasing funds to the state for MGNREGA and other welfare schemes.
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