Come Tuesday, the vim and vigour emblematic of Trinamul Congress’s 21 July rally will be conspicous by its absence reducing its impact as a morale booster for party activists who have lent their ears to their leaders over the years.

But taking stock of the organisational capability and popularity of the ruling party a year before the state Assembly elections will have to be foregone by its leaders.

Social distancing being an essential pre-requisite to combat Covid-19, chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be addressing a virtual rally. Small wonder, Esplanade and the adjoining areas will no longer be witnessing a sea of humanity, roaring applause to their leaders’ addresses and supremo on the podium who have led them from one electoral triumph to another since 2009 parliamentary polls.

Even as TMC gears up to take on an assertive BJP along with CPI-M and Congress taking pot shots, the pandemic will not let ruling party supporters make a beeline for the site of 21 July rally.

The divergence from accepted pattern to test the political waters has set the Trinamul leadership thinking whether it can dig in its heels for the electoral bout against its political opponents next year. Instead of coming up close to the CM and other leaders, hearing them speak and going back home with an enthused mindset, the party’s faithful will be left with little choice but to switch on their television sets to listen to the Trinamul supremo’s call to tackle the disease and defeat the forces that seeks to change a nearly decade long dispensation.

“Not being a cadre based party nor one possessing a well distributed network of party mouthpiece, our activists look forward to the 21 July meeting for an ideological charging up,” a senior TMC leader said requesting anonymity.

“The rally is considered to be an occasion to touch base for the leaders as well as the rank and file many of whom were participants to the 21 July 1993 march to Writers’ Buildings,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that the occasion to interact between leaders and followers will be lost at a critical juncture this year,” a legislator from North 24-Paragana said.

A veteran of many electoral battles, he said there is no attempt to overlook the “critical juncture” marked by denting of TMC’s once skyhigh popularity given BJP’s conquest of 18 parliamenatary constituencies from this state.

The event is the most important congregation in Trinamul’s calendar ever since 13 activists died in police firing during the Left Front regime on this day in 1993 when the then state Youth Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee led them to a march to Writers’ Buildings.

It led to the beginning of a slow upsurge of Banerjee’s popularity in the state and paid rich political dividends when she floated Trinamul Congress sending her former outfit to the sidelines.

There seems to be lull in the Trinamul camp this year which would have been unthinkable had not Covid19 gripped the world. No longer is the party machinery working on an overtime mode.

Heaping blame on the BJPled NDA government being less than generous in providing funds and equipment to fight the pandemic and succour for the Amphan ravaged are likely to be the principal theme of the speech of the virtual meeting.

What a large cross section of Trinamul leadership is worried about is that crowds will be far away from the person delivering the fiery speech making it long on substance and short on impact.