'Evict outsiders, not Bengali hawkers': Bangla Paksha takes out march in Kolkata

Activists of the Bangla Paksha Party organized a march in Kolkata demanding the eviction of hawkers from other states and stopping the expulsion of Bengali vendors. Braving the rain, the activists marched from Hazra More to Gariahat More.

Recently, the politics of Bengal has heated up over the eviction of hawkers. In an administrative meeting last June, CM Mamata announced that illegal encroachment of outsiders should be removed from public land and footpaths in Bengal. She clearly said that outsiders coming from other states are ruining the environment and culture of Bengal.

Her instructions were for the outsider encroachers, not for Bengalis or the original residents of Bengal. However, it can be seen that as a result of the hyperactivity of a section of the police administration, indiscriminate eviction of hawkers has started in various districts of Bengal including Kolkata, which mainly affects Bengali hawkers, but the administration is silent in some places.

Areas like Esplanade, Burrabazar, and Khidderpore in Kolkata are dominated by outside hawkers. Supporting the Chief Minister's instruction and opposing the conspiracy to distort her order, the Bangla Paksha today demanded that the land, roads, and footpaths of Bengal should be freed from the occupation of outsiders.

The demand was made to ensure the right to independent livelihood of Bengalis and Bhumiputras on the land of Bengal. Many Bengali hawkers who were evicted from various cities of different parts of the state took part in today's procession.

At the end of the rally at Gariahat crossing, the organization's general secretary Garg Chattopadhyay said, "The outside bureaucrats of the Bengal administration, in connivance with the Hindi-Urdu leaders of the ruling party, are attacking the lives and livelihoods of Bengalis. They are twisting the Chief Minister's orders for their interests. The Bengali side will not accept this".