Picks up a mound of soil to salute ‘martyrs’ and begin of her campaign

Kicking off her campaign here on Saturday afternoon, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee made it clear the “Nandigram massacre” by the police and ruling party members would be the focal theme of her campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. And to make the imagery striking, she picked up a mound of soil and touched it as a mark of respect for those who died in the March 14, 2007 police firing here.

Her inaugural campaign rally had the support of Congress leaders who shared the dais with her. 

At the Hazrakata grounds in Nandigram, the TMC and the Congress volunteers mingled together, marked only by their distinctive badges. At the dais, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, a senior Congress leader said to be an emissary of Pranab Mukherjee, stood close to Banerjee, sending out a clear message that their joint fight against the ruling CPM had the blessings of the Congress high command. The TMC chief commemorated the second anniversary of the March 14 police firing in Nandigram that had killed 14 people. She also raised her pitch against the proposed chemical hub at Nayachar, the alternative site to Nandigam as announced by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. 

“Before the panchayat elections, I started my campaign from Nandigram and the people of Bengal supported us overwhelmingly. Now, before the Lok Sabha elections, it is Nandigram which will inspire us once again. How can we forget Nandigram where so many people were killed by the CPM government, so many women were raped and so many are still missing? The wounds of Nandigram have not yet healed,” Banerjee said at the rally.

... contd.