Trinamul Cancels Public Meeting in Sandeshkhali Amidst Higher Secondary Exams

Citing the current upper secondary exams, the Trinamul Congress on Saturday called off its "confidence-building" public gathering that was set to take place on Sunday in the trouble-torn city of Sandeshkhali.

Instead, the governing party has decided to convene an internal organizational meeting on Sunday to assess the current state of affairs in North 24-Parganas, the island's troublesome districts.


Senior Trinamul officials and ministers Partha Bhowmik and Sujit Bose will meet with party members on Sunday at 1pm at a private location in Sandeshkhali's Kalinagar neighborhood.

Sandeshkhali Sukumar Mahata, a Trinamul MLA for Sandeshkhali, said in an interview with The Telegraph: "We have changed the schedule for the public meeting to prevent issues for the kids taking the upper secondary test. The sound of the microphones will annoy the pupils if the public meeting is conducted. We don't want to disrupt them any more since the agitation has already upset them.

"The suggested meeting is scheduled for March 3, a day when high-ranking officials would be in the region. But that won't happen until Section 144, which is applied to different pockets, is removed before then, Mahata said.

Insiders from Trinamul indicated that the leadership postponed the meeting so that they could evaluate the circumstances before announcing the party's stance.

In addition to gathering information on the outstanding debts of two problematic leaders, Uttam Sardar and Shibaprasad Hazra, who was taken into custody on Saturday, the party has started a broad outreach campaign.

Everyone wants to know the precise circumstances. The accusations leveled against our leaders are overstated. False accusations are being made by opposition parties, who are frantically attempting to contextualize them. The problematic leaders are receiving backing from the party, MLA Mahata said, adding, "They are being implicated in many false cases and we need to find out the truth."

Claiming to be a BJP supporter, the mother said that on Friday night, hooligans had broken into her house and thrown her kid to the ground, ostensibly because the youngster had joined the agitation against Trinamul officials.

Later, when the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights visited the difficult region and spoke with the residents, she told them about the event.

ISF supporters headed by Nawsad Siddique organized a demonstration and held a dharna in front of the SP office in Basirhat town on Saturday to denounce the crimes in Sandeshkhali.

"It is appalling to learn that the hooliganws did not spare youngsters... Siddique expressed optimism that commissions on women's and children's rights will consider these kinds of situations and safeguard the rights of Sandeshkhali's citizens.

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