BJP wants to replace Constitution with manifesto, says CM Mamata Banerjee; TMC women’s brigade protests LPG price hike & SIR

KOLKATA: CM Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said Bengal, which broke the shackles of colonial rule, will pave the way for BJP's inevitable downfall, training her guns sharply on the saffron party for "wanting to replace the Constitution with its party manifesto".

Banerjee's words, on International Women's Day, came as Trinamool's women netas and supporters, dressed in black and holding kitchen utensils, protested the LPG price hike and the large-scale deletion of women voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).




"What we are witnessing today is unprecedented, deeply unfortunate and a direct assault on the democratic foundations of this republic. In their ‘One Nation, One Leader, One Party' frenzy, BJP has systematically weaponised every democratic institution and every constitutional post to serve their own Jono-Birodhi ambitions," Banerjee posted on X.

"They are misusing the Vanish Commission to erase legitimate voters from electoral rolls," she added.

Banerjee wrote: "This is what they want. They want to replace Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution with their party manifesto. I have not stood for this. I will not stand for this. Our dharna at Dharmatala is our answer to every Bangla-Birodhi agenda that seeks to humiliate, intimidate and persecute the people of this state. BJP's only priority is power. My priority is and always has been people. These zamindars of Delhi will never succeed in their mission to subjugate this great land."

CM Banerjee set the tone on Sunday morning as a TMC procession with participants wearing black sarees and black clothes reached her sit-in site at Esplanade. Carrying ‘khunti' (spatulas) and empty ‘thala' (plates), they raised slogans against the rising cost of domestic LPG, which increased by Rs 60 on Saturday. State ministers Shashi Panja and Chandrima Bhattacharya, along with TMC MP Mala Roy, led the women's protest from Subodh Mallick Square.

Panja explained the purpose of the ‘khunti and empty vessels': "This vessel was supposed to contain food. But it's empty — how does one cook with such a high LPG price? CM Mamata Banerjee provides Lakshmir Bhandar; are you expected to spend that just to buy gas?"

Women from different wards under Kolkata Municipal Corporation and adjoining areas arrived at the protest in matadors.

In Kolkata, a 14.2-kilogram LPG cylinder now costs Rs 939. This is the second hike in 11 months. It was last increased in April 2025, when the cost rose by Rs 50. The current hike is attributed to the ongoing tension in West Asia.

A Gariahat market resident, who wished to remain anonymous, took part in Sunday's protest. She earns her livelihood working as a house help, making around Rs 10,000 a month. "If I spend Rs 939 to buy gas for cooking, I will not have money left to buy food to cook. What do I feed my family?" she asked.

When asked what Women's Day means to her, she said, "To live with dignity. To celebrate my womanhood. But today, with the price hike of essential commodities, my livelihood and dignity seem to be in danger."