The victory rally, timed to coincide with the Martyr’s Day in commemoration of 11 Youth Congress workers killed in police firing in 1993, saw a record turnout that clogged the city streets, bringing traffic in arterial roads to a standstill for nearly five hours.

In the company of Magsaysay awardee Mahasweta Devi, Mamata vowed to deal a final blow the Marxists in 2011 even as the frenzied crowd and other speakers hailed the railway minister as the next “Bengal Chief Minister”, who in turn said “Yes, we can”.

Responding in kind, a beaming Mamata unfolded her roadmap for the post-2011 Bengal, saying the industry and the agriculture will grow side by side. “Both will flourish under the Trinamool rule. They will be like two sisters — hashi (smile) aar khushi (happiness).”

“People are asking what we will do if we come to power in 2011. I tell them that industry will grow. Agriculture will grow. Agriculture-based industry would grow. Democracy will grow and enterprise will flourish in an air of total freedom. We will create millions of jobs for Bengal’s youths. The CPM has done nothing in the past 32 years and they will not do anything in future. All these years, they built the myth that they are invincible. But they have lost the battle,” the Trinamool chief said amid riotous applause.

Keenly aware that her alliance with the Congress had contributed to the Trinamool’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls in no small measure, Mamata was at pains to reiterate her pact with her parent party and other partners like SUCI. In fact, K Keshav Rao, the AICC in-charge of Bengal, interrupted Mamata’s speech for a moment to announce that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee have sent their goodwill messages to her.

“It is proved today that the CPM has lost. Under the CPM regime, people lived miserably. Things will change after 2011. No one will have to die in Singur or Nandigram for our development plans,” Mamata said, adding on a sober note that the change will not about through “blood for blood policy”, but through peaceful means.

“The CPM uses terror against its opponents. But we will maintain peace and mobilise the people. After the Lok Sabha polls, the expectations of the people have gone up. We have to play a constructive and positive role,” the Trinamool chief said to the crowd who braved rains to hang on to every word. “Once the CPM is removed, millions of unemployed youths will get jobs. We will prove, yes, we can,” she said, adding that she needed “support from the Congress, SUCI and intellectuals and others”.

Others who spoke on the occasion — among them were Somen Mitra, the former Congressman who is now a Trinamool MP, Sudip Bandopadhyay, the Trinamool’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Mahasweta Devi, painter Suvaprasanna and Maulana Barkati of Tipu Sultan mosque — hailed Mamata as the next chief minister of Bengal. “She (Mamata) is Bengal’s face. Let us all vote for her and make her the chief minister of the state,” said Mahasweta Devi, who was felicitated by the Trinamool chief along with the families of the “martyrs” of Singur and Nandigram and the mother of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman.

rally holds up CM for 15 minutes, shows him the other way
The Trinamool Congress rally at Esplanade today held up Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for 15 minutes before he could leave his office for lunch in the afternoon.

The chief minister who usually leaves office at 1:30 pm left finally at 1:45 pm as the traffic police said they could not make way for his convoy since the city roads were choc-a-bloc with people who had come to attend the rally. In fact, the CM’s convoy had to make a detour because of the crowds.

The Writers’ Buildings wore a deserted look as most of the people chose not to come apprehending huge traffic snarls. Of the 32 ministers who sit at Writers’, only 12 turned up. A large number of employees remained absent too.