Trinamool's Very Own
The morning of January 30, 2014 was a nightmare for Calcutta. Daily commuters using public transport could not find buses, taxis, autos and even rickshaws to get to work. And yet the roads were choc-a-block with traffic. How's that, you ask? Because most of the state government vehicles which normally ply the city's roads had been informally commissioned by the state to ferry truckloads of people to the site of the Trinamool rally being held at the Brigade Parade Grounds in the heart of Calcutta, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee was to be the chief speaker. Slogan shouting activists spilling out of these vehicles were dressed in Trinamool headbands, hats and headgear. As desperate office-goers gaped in horror, buses, taxis, autos, and rickshaws zipped past them carrying huge Trinamool Congress tricolors which were fluttering wildly in the cold January breeze. Some passengers wildly gestured towards some of these to stop in the vain hope that they would give them a lift. Alas, none stopped. To make matters more exasperating, a slogan–shouting youth in a bus, was leaning out of the window and pointing in the direction of the passengers stranded by the side of the road... "Eraa kaaraa? Era kaaraa?...Trinamool-er aapon jaara!" (Who are they? Who are they?...They are TMC's very own.)