Kolkata: After many injured during clashes between BJP workers and police during a protest march by BJP workers in West Bengal against the TMC government, prompting the Calcutta High Court to step in today.
The court has asked the state’s Home Secretary to submit a report by September 19 on allegations that BJP workers were stopped from attending the march to the State Secretariat in Howrah.
BJP leaders Meena Devi Purohit and Swapan Dasgupta, besides several police officers, were injured in the incident. During the march, the police detained Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee and senior leader Rahul Sinha.
Meanwhile, when the BJP workers tried to cross the barricades imposed by the police, the police fired tear gas shells and water cannons at them.
Talking to reporters before being taken into custody, the officer said, “Everyone saw how the biased police tried to undermine the democratic right to protest outside the secretariat. During this time, I was also manhandled by a woman constable.”
According to the information, stones were pelted on the police chasing the protesters in Santragachi. Similar scenes were witnessed in Howrah, Kolkata’s Lal Bazar and MG Road areas, where violent protesters clashed with the police. A police vehicle was set on fire in Lal Bazar. There was no report of any serious injury to any of the protesters but some policemen were injured, a Kolkata Police official said.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar staged a sit-in in Howrah after the protesters were stopped from moving forward.
“Mamata Banerjee’s dictatorial government does not believe in giving space to opposition parties. BJP state president Agnimitra Pal was later detained from the protest site at Howrah Maidan.
BJP workers brought shame to entire country: TMC
In a tweet, the TMC said, “BJP workers or goons? Today’s activities of the BJP like damaging government property, attacking police personnel, creating anarchy in the state and disturbing peace have brought shame to the entire country. We strongly condemn this.”