Hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party workers clashed with the police on Thursday during a protest in West Bengal’s Howrah district, NDTV reported. The workers marched to the state Secretariat “Nabanna” to protest against the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
Videos on social media showed the police using water cannons to disperse the protestors. Some of them were seen without masks, pushing against the barricades installed to restrain them.
Other videos showed police in riot gear baton-charging the protestors. They also fired tear gas to control the spiralling “Nabanna Chalo” (Let’s go to Nabanna) protest.
The BJP held the protest in violation of the Trinamool Congress government’s order prohibiting large gatherings because of coronavirus pandemic, according to NDTV. The state Secretariat building, which is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s office, was closed for sanitisation.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took note of the police action and said that he was informed that the water cannons had “some chemical in it which is why people have been vomiting”. However, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay dismissed the allegation, adding that the information was incorrect. “The intent globally to use coloured water is to identify a person post dispersal for further necessary action as per the law if required,” he said, according to ANI.
BJP leaders claimed that they followed all the safety guidelines and hit out at the state government for the crackdown on their workers. “All workers are wearing masks,” BJP National Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya was quoted as saying by ANI. “Are rules only for us? Mamata ji holds demonstrations with thousands and we’re being taught lessons of social distancing. Do same rules not apply to her?”
Bengal BJP General Secretary Locket Chatterjee alleged that BJP workers were attacked with stones. “Police is lathi charging our people,” she told ANI. “Stone-pelting being done from Khidirpur side. Can’t the police see that?”
BJP workers in Kolkata also allegedly threw bombs and bricks at the police, The Indian Express reported, quoting an unidentified senior police officer. “We had to ensure law and order is maintained,” the officer said.
The state chief secretary said the police had recovered firearms and officials were attacked during the protests. “89 persons were detained in Kolkata Police area and 24 detained in Howrah Police area,” he told ANI. “Some police personnel have sustained injuries.”
Bandyopadhyay spoke about the permission for the rallies and said that the application had mentioned multiple demonstrations and that each of them would have around 25,000 people. He added that it “would have been a travesty” to accept their request under the lockdown norms.
Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, however, accused the police of beating up the saffron party workers. “CM [chief minister] fled, barricades at places, police have lathi charged and are kicking up BJP supporters, ferry is closed, national highway is closed, Kolkata has been detached from rest of the country, seems like an undeclared lockdown is going on,” he tweeted.
Ghosh accused the chief minister of being frustrated and taking it out on “peaceful protestors”. “Beating up peaceful protestors, hurling country made bombs and using water cannon on their protest march show Mamata Banerjee’s frustration because she knows that her days in power are numbered and the people of Bengal have made up their mind to throw out her tyrannical government,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, he alleged that Banerjee and her party’s workers had unleashed “brute force” on BJP’s protestors. “Such misuse of power is totally unacceptable and condemnable,” he wrote.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha National President Tejasvi Surya also criticised the state government, and called the police action a “brutal attack”. “Today was a black day...The TMC government murdered rule of law in the state,” he said during a media briefing, reported PTI. “The way our cadres and leaders were attacked and beaten up mercilessly by the police is unprecedented. Don’t we have the right to conduct a peaceful rally in the state?”
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