Twelve Left youth and students’ wings have taken on a two-day “Nabanna Chalo” campaign from September 12th. The march began on Thursday from Singur in Hooghly, the venue of abandoned Tata Nano car plant, moving towards Bengal secretariat Nabanna in Howrah.
As protesters marched towards Nabanna, they faced police barricades. Clashes broke out in Howrah on Friday between the police and the activists, who were met with teargas, lathi-charges and water canons. Several protesters suffered injuries and some were rushed to the hospital.
DYFI state secretary Sayandeep Mitra said, “We were to submit thousands of applications seeking jobs and answers on various other issues from Banerjee, as part of the TMC government’s “Didi ke Bolo (Ask Didi)” public outreach initiative,but as soon as our peaceful rally reached Mullick Ghat (in Howrah), police resorted to unprovoked lathi charge and tear gas shell firing.”
The protesters were also demanding ‘unemployment allowance schemes’ and reduction of cost of Education in Bengal.
“She has failed to bring about economic development in West Bengal. Several business summits were organised over the past few years but not investment has been made. Lakhs of youths are unemployed,” the DYFI state secretary added.