'Arrest Me If You Want': Mamata Banerjee Says TMC Will Hold Protest On June 2 'Even Without Police Permission'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that her political party will go ahead with its planned sit-in in Kolkata against the alleged attacks on party leaders and workers, and the Railways' hawker eviction drive, despite the police denying permission for it.

"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.

"The TMC will hold its protest on June 2 even without police permission, microphones or a stage. If we are not allowed to protest in Kolkata, we will protest in Delhi," she was quoted by PTI as saying.

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According to the report, Banerjee said that 12 TMC workers had been killed since the West Bengal Assembly elections 2026 and that thousands of party activists had been arrested, while many others had been forced to flee their homes.

"Democratic protests were being obstructed," she said, pointing out that police have denied permission for her party's dharna in the heart of Kolkata against issues such as hawker evictions and attacks on party workers and alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.

The former West Bengal Chief Minister reportedly alleged that while the common people and small traders were living in fear, and hawkers were being evicted without a proper rehabilitation plan.

Defections in Mamata's TMC

She claimed that the ruling BJP was using "money and power" to engineer defections in her party. Her statement came after a political turmoil struck her party 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 asserted that the departure of leaders from the party fold for personal interests would help rebuild the organisation, and the TMC would emerge stronger from the crisis.

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On Monday, a meeting with TMC MLAs was cancelled after only 20 of the 80 party legislators arrived at Banerjee's residence for the meeting.

Targeting defectors, Banerjee said several leaders now leaving the TMC had enjoyed power and positions for years but were changing sides to protect personal interests.

On Abhishek Banerjee

Banerjee claimed that she had been conveyed a message suggesting that some leaders would return to the party if her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerje were removed from the organisation's leadership.

"I know these people very well. Those who have no ideology or principles cannot dictate terms to us," she was quoted as saying.

The TMC supremo alleged that the BJP was targeting Abhishek Banerjee because of his growing political stature and claimed that he was recently denied proper medical treatment after being attacked.

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On Saturday, Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up in Sonarpur, in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, where an angry crowd 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 representatives to resign. This is not democracy," she alleged.

Banerjee also accused the BJP of attempting to use the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and administrative measures to intimidate supporters of the opposition party and alleged that democratic institutions were being misused.

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The BJP is yet to respond to the allegations.

(With inputs from PTI)

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