Expressing deep anguish over "trampling of democracy" in West Bengal, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Thursday urged people to build up a movement for restoration of their rights, and called it a "second struggle for independence".
Chatterjee, along with a host of eminent personalities like former Supreme Court judge A.K. Ganguly, educationist Pabitra Sarkar and painter Samir Aich, held a protest meeting condemning the ruling Trinamool Congress' strong-arm tactics that "turned the ongoing civic polls into a farce".
"Perhaps I have lived too long to endure this unbearable pain of seeing how people's democratic rights are being trampled upon. How the common man's freedom of speech, his right to elect a representative of his own choice, is being taken away. In what Bengal am I living?" Chatterjee said.
He said that even after decades of independence, people's aspirations continue to remain unfulfilled.
"There is no other way out, the onus is on the masses to build up a movement against this trampling of democracy. No matter how much police, military or powerful the state is, we will have to fight for our rights. It is our second struggle for independence," he said.
Former state finance minister and leading economist Ashok Mitra, who could not be present due to ill health, in a statement launched a scathing attack on Trinamool supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The CPI-M veteran slammed Banerjee for using "language of the gutter".
"Under this government, the administration instead of controlling the anti-socials is hand in glove with them. There is a need for a collective movement to stand up against this tyranny and to restore rule of law and preserve democracy and civilization," Mitra said.
Mincing no words in slamming Banerjee, former apex court judge Ganguly called upon the people to hit the streets against the "tyranny and oppression" by the Trinamool.
"I feel ashamed and embarrassed that she is our chief minister," said Ganguly, a former chairperson of the state human rights panel.
"We want an end to the anarchy and oppression that has been unleashed by an unholy party which is in power. It has no respect for law, norms, democracy or the constitution," he said.
"The common man is not helpless. We will have to stand up against this. This indeed is our second struggle for independence," said Ganguly, urging people not to confine their fight only to ensure free and fair polls but against any kind of oppression.
Former city mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhatacharya, painter Samir Aich and educationist Pabitra Sarkar too called upon the people to start a movement against the attacks on democracy.
Coming down heavily on the administration for its failure to ensure "free and fair polls" to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the speakers also expressed their apprehension the scenario would be repeated in the April 25 polls to 91 civic bodies across the state.
