Political protests: Drive a tractor or ride a bullock cart to Parl, place an empty chair at meetings, switch off lights

According to two TMC leaders, Banerjee believed that after the BJP failed to secure a majority, Modi should have resigned. On Saturday, at a party meeting, Banerjee said that Modi adopted many unethical ways to form his government. So, she decided to switch off lights at home – seemingly symbolising that the country is an area of darkness.

The unique, “power-less" way to show dissent against the government is the latest addition to the Opposition’s range of protests against Modi in the past 10 years.

Before the protest in darkness, was the protest with empty chairs: For the past few years, Trinamool leaders in Delhi came up with the idea of keeping vacant chairs at meetings to protest against arrests or against the questioning of Opposition leaders by central investigating agencies.

At the INDIA bloc’s coordination committee meeting on September 13, a seat was kept vacant at TMC’s behest for its general secretary Abhishek Banerjee who couldn’t attend it as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned him for questioning.

Months later, the same strategy was adopted at the INDIA bloc’s rally on March 31 at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi This time, two chairs were kept vacant: one each for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.

Innovative protests in India have a history. In 1973, late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then a firebrand Jan Sangh lawmaker, arrived at Parliament House on a bullock cart to protest against the increase in petrol and kerosene prices.

On July 26, 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi drove a tractor to the Parliament complex to oppose the three farm laws. The vehicle had a banner demanding that the three “anti-farmer black laws” be repealed. With stricter security around the Parliament complex, Gandhi’s tractor was stopped at the entry gate as it didn’t have a valid pass to be allowed in.

On September 20, 2020, the Lok Sabha worked till 12.24 am, clocking a new record of sitting beyond midnight for two consecutive evenings after it did so the preceding Sunday as well. And while the Lok Sabha was still buzzing with activity well past midnight, a group of eight lawmakers suspended for “gross disorderly conduct” on Monday organised the first overnight sit-in just outside the Parliament building near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

The eight lawmakers, TMC’s Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen; Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh; Congress’s Rajeev Satav, Syed Nasir Hussain and Ripun Borah; Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem, stayed overnight in Parliament, slept under the open sky, and ate whatever snacks and packed ‘thalis’ made available to them.

The lawmakers were suspended after they stormed the Well of the House and charged towards Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh who was presiding over the proceedings on Sunday, after two of the three farm bills were passed by voice vote. The opposition wanted the bills to be referred to a select committee and the division of votes for their passage.

The next morning, Harivansh came to meet them and offered tea to lawmakers. The protesting MPs politely refused the tea. It was a way to protest as well.