TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee will start a two month ‘Jono Sanjog Yatra’ from April 25. Sharing a post on Twitter, the Trinamool Congress said, “The National General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee will begin a two-month Jono Sanjog Yatra from Cooch Behar to Kakdwip starting from April 25.”
Banerjee will engage the public and unite the “grassroot party members” during this campaign.
“This campaign’s objective is to establish a people’s panchayat. During my public meetings over the past years, I have repeatedly stated that panchayat elections will be held in a democratic, free, fair, and peaceful way”, Banerjee said at a news conference.
“The political system in India has a centralized power structure that allows decisions on candidates for elections at all levels to be made behind closed doors and based on the advice of district and block leadership. This initiative tries to include public opinion while choosing the candidates”, Banerjee added.
The two-month-long “Jono Sanjog Yatra” will start in Coochbehar, a BJP stronghold where the Koch Rajbangshi community of North Bengal—the largest scheduled caste group in the state—predominates.
TMC has made an effort to downplay the general consensus that led to Banerjee’s decision to launch the yatra. According to TMC spokesperson Pradipta Mukherjee, a political science professor, “Abhishek Banerjee does not believe in the comparison of North and South Bengal while the BJP works to divide Bengal.”
The influence of Banerjee’s yatra on the voters has been questioned by leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). “Is this the TMC’s Abhishek Yatra or Jono Sanjog Yatra? The goal of Jono Sanjog Yatra should be to reach people without the presence of police. Does he possess such an ability? When Biman Bose was twice his age, Biman Bose set out on the Jono Sangoj Yatra from Cooch Behar to Kolkata”, said Sujan Chakraborty, leader of the CPI (M).