Not in the living memory had such a thing happened. The said-to-be biggest CPM rally in the Brigade Parade Ground suffered negligible media coverage in yesterday’s TV channels and in today’s papers. It was completely overshadowed by the eye-catching event at Burrabazar – the raging fire in 2 buildings.
Clearly the ruling party didn’t bargain for that. All the efforts to make the rally next to none had been painstakingly done. Perhaps for the first time except during Puja days, the Metro ran specials in the morning, a Sunday, to carry the rally-goers.
Conveyances in thousands were arranged from vantage points like Howrah and Sealdah stations to Brigade to ferry listeners. This was nothing new.
What was new was the unprecedented announcement in the form of official press release by the government to warn the people of possible traffic jams.
Pray why not. The city is known to have of late grown a disliking for rallies that have the potential to reduce non-participants to mere spectators. But that didn’t deter the rally goers from doing exactly the same.
A picture in today’s TT (Jan 14) showing hundreds of cars piling up on one side of AJC Bose Road flyover watching the free run of mini-trucks carrying the rallyists racing ahead on the other side reminded me of the Republic Day parade on Red Road.
All in all, the stage was all set for a massive propaganda. Alas, the fire stole all the attention. Which is to say that the mega arrangement coupled with the star attraction of CPM’s top brass addressing the rally firmly remained sort of non-event yesterday.
Is that an indication of ‘fires’ ahead as the CPM embarks whole hog on industrialization? One hopes not.
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