November 12, 2026

Bengal: 21st July: One Date, One Event, Three Claimants

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2026-07-20 05:50:40

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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21st July 1993 was a horrific day for democracy in Bengal when police fired and killed 13 Congress workers when they were marching towards Writer's Building, the executive office of the state government then led by the Left Front. Mamata Banerjee, as the state Youth Congress president, was leading the rally.

For more than a decade, Mamata Banerjee and the TMC have been observing the day as Martyrs Day in memory of the workers who lost their life that day. She used to address a huge gathering in Esplanade in Kolkata when she was in power. More than 5 lakh people were estimated to gather every year, in rain or sunshine, to listen to her.

But this year, after losing power to the BJP and heading a heavily truncated party, Banerjee has been finding it difficult to organise the rally in a proper way. First, the BJP government denied her the permission to hold the meeting at her usual place and two more places she suggested. Then to add to her woes, the Congress claimed that it never was a TMC show as those killed that day were Youth Congress workers. It has decided to hold a parallel rally this year. Not to be left behind, the rebel faction of the TMC, under Arup Roy and Ritabrata Banerjee, has also decided to observe the day as Martyrs Day. All three rallies will happen on the same day, at the same time (12.30pm) within 500 metres of each other.

With three claimants for the same event on the same day, it remains to be seen who comes out trumps. For, in the given political climate in Bengal, with the anti-BJP opposition in dire straits, these rallies will obviously become a show of strength for the respective parties/factions. While Mamata Banerjee will try to gather a huge crowd of supporters and prove that despite the leaders deserting her, the people are still with her, the Ritabrata faction of the TMC will try to ensure that Mamata is not able to pull in the crowds. The Congress will try to occupy the middle space. It remains to be seen who wins, as the last rally Mamata held at a bus stop in Esplanade had drawn only a few hundred people, most of whom were curious onlookers rather than party workers. The Ritabrata faction has not, despite the support of so many leaders, shown its mobilising capacity till now. The Congress, too, does not have ground-level support in the state.