Kolkata, Feb. 18 -- Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA from Balagarh in Hooghly Manoranjan Byapari on Tuesday tried to reach the state Legislative Assembly riding on a cycle rickshaw. However, he was stopped some distance away by the police.
On Tuesday morning Byapari posted a message on his Facebook page. "When I became a candidate for the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 2021, the working class which includes farmers and labourers across Bengal were excited and raised slogans that rickshaws will go to the Legislative Assembly. They all knew that rickshaw puller Manoranjan Byapari was the representative of the working people. Today, on February 18, I am truly going to the Legislative Assembly by driving a cycle rickshaw as a representative of the working people."
At 9 am on Tuesday, Byapari boarded a rickshaw from MLA hostel at Kyd Street and pedalled the three-wheeler towards the Assembly but was stopped while he was about to cross over to Jawaharlal Nehru Road from Kyd Street by the police. Speaking to reporters, Bypari said: "The Trinamool Congress is a party of the working people in the true sense of the term. Our party leader Mamata Banerjee has made a rickshaw puller, a representative of the working people, an MLA in the Assembly. By riding a rickshaw to the Assembly, I want to deliver the message to the working people that they should be with the Trinamool Congress as the party has always stood by them."
He maintained that he would ride a rickshaw to the Assembly in the coming days after collecting all necessary permissions. Interestingly, after he was fielded from Balagarh during the 2021 Assembly elections, he had submitted his nominations by reaching the concerned election office riding on a cycle rickshaw.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.