The West Bengal Police on Monday booked five Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including two who incited people to take up arms against the police and beat them up, The Indian Express reported.
At a public meeting in Birbhum on Sunday, the party’s district leader Kalosona Mondal claimed that police personnel were selfish and corrupt and would do nothing to save even their own colleagues. Mondal said that the police, and not Trinamool Congress workers, were the opponents of the party and exhorted people to attack law enforcement officials. BJP Mahila Morcha President Locket Chatterjee, who also addressed the meeting, asked women supporters to “take up arms” and resort to violence.
On Monday, Mondal refused to back down and said he would not apologise for the comments.
District Police Superintendent Shyam Singh told PTI that the police filed an FIR against Mondal and Chatterjee under non-bailable sections after taking suo motu cognisance of the comments.
Reacting to the comments, senior Trinamool Congress leader and minister Partha Chatterjee said the BJP was known for making such comments as they have “neither any respect for law nor constitution”.
BJP state President Dilip Ghosh had claimed last month that the police were registering false cases against his party cadre. “A day will definitely come when we will strip you of your [police] uniforms,” he had said. “The police aren’t worth wearing the uniform.” Ghosh had said the BJP would identify the police officers responsible for registering the false cases, and added that “they will have to pay us back from their own pockets”.
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