All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) minority faction leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, 21 July, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the West Bengal police administration of conspiring to disrupt her faction's Martyrs' Day rally scheduled at Birla Planetarium in Central Kolkata. The allegations came hours before the rally was set to begin, raising tensions across the city.

What Mamata Banerjee Alleged

Banerjee claimed that BJP-backed activists attempted to vandalise the rally stage at Birla Planetarium on Monday night. She said she rushed to the venue along with her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other faction leaders, and that they stood guard at the stage in turns through the night.

'Our supporters are being prevented from coming to the meeting. The police are threatening the families of the martyrs not to come to the meeting. Everything cannot be done by force like this. We are remembering the martyrs. Our stage is being broken. The electricity and microphone lines were disconnected. Posters and banners are being torn. Around 60 BJP-backed goons did all these. It is led by a criminal, who is currently out on bail. There has been a conspiracy since the beginning to sabotage the event with the police on one side and the BJP on the other side,' Banerjee said.

Court Order and Contempt Warning

Banerjee pointed out that her faction was holding the rally at Birla Planetarium pursuant to an order from a Kolkata court. She warned that any attempt by the police to disrupt the event would amount to contempt of court. 'The police administration is resorting to contempt of court by trying to disrupt our rally. Do not play with the law of the land. If you continue to do that, we will file a contempt of court petition against the state government and the police administration,' she said. This comes amid a broader intra-party split within the TMC, with Banerjee's faction at loggerheads with the ruling state leadership.

Congress Also Reports Attacks on Supporters

The West Bengal unit of the Indian National Congress (Congress) separately alleged that its workers were being blocked from reaching Kolkata to attend a parallel rally at Shahid Minar in Esplanade, Central Kolkata, held on the same occasion. State Congress president Suvankar Sarkar issued a statement claiming that BJP workers vandalised a bus carrying Congress workers travelling to Kolkata from Durgapur in West Burdwan district. He further alleged a similar attack occurred in Potashpur in East Midnapore district.

Significance of Martyrs' Day

Martyrs' Day on 21 July is an emotionally charged political occasion in West Bengal, commemorating the deaths of Congress workers shot by police in 1993. Banerjee, who has historically anchored the day as her political signature event, now finds herself competing for its ownership amid the TMC factional conflict. The dual rallies — one by her faction at Birla Planetarium and another by the Congress at Shahid Minar — underline how fractured the opposition landscape in the state has become.

What Happens Next

With both rallies proceeding amid allegations of intimidation, the day's events are likely to sharpen the political battle between Banerjee's faction, the state BJP, and the Congress in the run-up to future electoral contests in West Bengal. A potential contempt of court petition against the state government and police, if filed, could add a legal dimension to the already volatile standoff.