West Bengal: Left Youth And Students’ Wing Members Protest Over Unemployment; Police Resort to Lathicharge, Lob Tear Gas

The rally began from Singur in Hooghly district of north Kolkata at an abandoned Tata Nano car plant on Thursday and it will move towards the Bengal Secretariat in Nabanna.

New Delhi: Thousands of members of the Youth Wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) along with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Friday staged a protest in Howrah district against the West Bengal government over the rising unemployment in the state.

In a video shared by news agency ANI, thousands of protestors can be seen marching towards Nabana in Howrah district. Clashes broke out as several protestors were lathi-charged. The police also hurled water cannons and tear gas shells.

#WATCH Howrah: Youth wing and student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist), stage a protest alleging unemployment in the state. Police fire tear-gas at protesters. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/j4OqNTJW28

— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2019

Twelve young-blooded members of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and SFI of the Left Front in West Bengal undertook the ‘Nabana Chalo’ campaign, a two-day protest march demanding an end to the overarching job crisis in the state.

The rally began from Singur in Hooghly district of north Kolkata at an abandoned Tata Nano car plant on Thursday and it will move towards the Bengal Secretariat in Nabanna. The venue of the starting point is also a symbolic gesture of the lack of employment in the state.

The police have placed barricades at the Maidan area in Howrah, about 4 km away from the Secretariat and the security has been tightened,  expecting violence over the protests.

DYFI chief secretary Sayandeep Mitra said that the protest is a mark of the “lost hope” of the youth in the West Bengal government. Mitra said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been making false promises of bringing economic development in the state. The business plans have failed miserably as there has been “not a single investment” in the state, he added.

The angry protestors will be submitting applications to state seeking answers to the growing unemployment under a Trinamool Congress public outreach initiative called ‘Didi Ke Bolo’.