On May 26, an attempt by the RPF to evict hawkers at Halisahar station in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal was resisted by hawkers, Left trade unions and democratic forces. Around 11 am, RPF personnel gathered at the station to carry out the eviction drive, reflecting the wider communal bulldozer politics unleashed by the BJP government against the poor and working people.
The hawkers, along with AICCTU, CITU and other democratic activists, took out a determined protest march against the eviction move. They asserted that railway stations cannot be turned into zones of livelihood destruction, and poor hawkers who survive through hard labour cannot be thrown out without rehabilitation and justice.
Following the protest, discussions were held with the railway administration. It was decided that only shops which have remained closed for a long time would be removed for now, while functioning hawker stalls would not be evicted at present.
AICCTU comrades Biswajit Pan, Kalyan and Narayan Roy joined the protest, along with CITU leaders Gargi Chatterjee, Debashis Rakshit, Shambhu Chatterjee and other Left and democratic activists.
AICCTU and other Left forces said that any renewed attempt to evict working hawkers will be met with united resistance. The protest at Halisahar once again showed that the politics of bulldozing livelihoods will be challenged on the streets by the organised strength of workers, hawkers and democratic forces.
