The Kolkata Police on Friday detained Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvargiya during a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act rally in the city, India Today reported. The pro-CAA rally was being held at Tollygunge in South Kolkata.
The Kolkata Police said the BJP leaders were detained and the rally stopped because no permission had been provided for it, PTI reported. However, the saffron party claimed that it had informed the police about the event.
Vijayvargiya told reporters while being taken to a police vehicle that the Mamata Banerjee-led government has begun autocratic rule in West Bengal, The Indian Express reported. “We were taking out a rally in support of the CAA which has received overwhelming support from all over the country, Vijayvargiya said. “But the police of Mamata Banerjee is not allowing us to take out a peaceful, democratic rally.”
Vijayvargiya tweeted that Roy and he were being taken to the Lal Bazaar Police Station. “Is it a crime to take out a rally in support of an Act passed by Parliament, that we are being arrested?” the BJP leader tweeted.
The Citizenship Amendment Act provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. However, it excludes Muslims from its purview, leading to protests against it. At least 28 people have been killed in these protests so far, of which 26 died in BJP-ruled states.
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