Mamata Banerjee slams Suvendu Adhikari over hawker evictions in Bengal, TMC set to hit streets against BJP bulldozer politics

The Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government has declared ‘zero tolerance’ policy against illegal constructions and encroachments

Published: May 20, 2026 8:08 AM IST

New Delhi: The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to launch demonstrations against what it termed the BJP government’s “bulldozer culture” and the alleged forcible eviction of hawkers from railway land and station areas. Experts are of the opinion that the TMC is now trying to rediscover its trademark politics of street mobilisation after being relegated to the opposition benches in West Bengal. TMC will hold the protests on Thursday near Howrah, Sealdah and Ballygunge stations—coinciding with the Falta assembly repoll.

The party held a meeting of TMC legislators on Tuesday at Kalighat, where the former chief minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack against the ruling BJP government in West Bengal over its ongoing demolition drives and anti-encroachment campaigns. “Shops of small traders are being crushed with bulldozers. This government is making a mockery of our constitutional ideals and values,” said a TMC MLA quoting Banerjee.

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It is important to note that the decision to hold the protests was taken amid the BJP government’s “zero tolerance” policy against illegal constructions and encroachments following the political transition in the state. Since assuming office, the government has carried out demolition drives against alleged illegal structures in different parts of the state.

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Here are some of the important details:

• The Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government has declared ‘zero tolerance’ policy against illegal constructions and encroachments
• The West Bengal government has carried out demolition drives against alleged illegal structures in different parts of the state.
• The authorities concerned have initiated eviction drives on railway land, and at several stations under the Howrah and Sealdah divisions
• BJP has projected the drives as part of a governance and law-and-order overhaul
• The opposition TMC, on the other hand, has sought to frame them as coercive action disproportionately affecting the poor and vulnerable.
• Political observers said the timing of TMC’s protest announcement is significant.

Experts are of the opinion that the Trinamool Congress is now again trying to built its rise through relentless street mobilisation and issue-based agitations has found itself unusually absent from protest sites since losing power in the recent assembly elections.

Even during earlier demolition drives, including the Tiljala operation where bulldozers rolled in to raze alleged illegal structures, TMC leaders remained conspicuously absent from the ground, ceding protest space to rivals such as ISF and CPI(M).

As demolition drives spread across districts and anti-encroachment operations intensified on railway land, the party chose silence over street resistance.

The decision to finally hit the streets has also raised eyebrows as the protests are scheduled on the day when a repoll will be held in Falta, where TMC candidate Jahangir Khan’s abrupt withdrawal handed the BJP fresh ammunition and left the opposition party battling political embarrassment.