Kolkata, June 14 (IANS) Trinamool Congress leadership, on Saturday, gave clear instructions to the leaders in all ranks to refrain from using pictures of any party leader other than West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the programme on the party’s annual Martyrs’ Day this year on July 21.

Not even the picture of the party’s general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee would be used at the annual programme this year, which is the last before the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled next year.

This decision was conveyed at a meeting of Trinamool Congress at the party’s state headquarters in Kolkata on Saturday, which was convened to finalise the final blueprint for the ‘Martyrs’ Day’ programme this year.

Veteran Trinamool Congress leader and the party leader in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, confirmed that the instruction to use only Mamata Banerjee’s pictures at the party’s ‘Martyrs’ Day’ programme came from none other than Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of the Chief Minister.

“The poster that is finalised for the background of the dais of the ‘Martyrs’ Day’ programme this year has the picture of the Chief Minister only,” Sudip Bandopadhyay said on Saturday.

Political observers feel that using only the picture of Mamata Banerjee’s photograph in this ‘Martyrs’ Day’ programme also sends subtle political messages. “The first message is for the party leaders that Mamata Banerjee continues to have not just the ‘final’ but also the ‘only’ say in both administrative and organisational matters. Secondly, she continues to be the only face of mass appeal before the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls,” said a city-based political observer.

Meanwhile, at the preparatory meeting on Saturday, Trinamool Congress’s district leaders were asked to start preparations for ensuring maximum turnouts from the respective districts for the July 21 programme this year.

At the programme, the Chief Minister is expected to outline the campaign line for the party ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next year. It is to be seen whether she keeps the BJP and Congress-Left Front alliance in equal parlance in her speech or identifies the saffron camp as her principal political opponent in the state.

–IANS

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