BJP holds twin rallies in Kolkata against violence during Left-backed NEET protest

The political slugfest intensified as BJP leadership addressed the ‘Cockroach’ unrest, with twin counter-rallies organised in various parts of Kolkata on Monday.

Thousands of people backed by the BJP descended on the streets to take part in two massively attended rallies seeking a boycott of the Cockroach Janata Party and the Communists and action against “anti-national forces”.

Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had on Saturday given a call for hosting a counter Tiranga Yatra — “with double the number of participants against anti-national elements — staged by the Left students’ wings in Kolkata that ended up in chaos, leading to a brief skirmish between police and the protesters. While the first one started at Sealdah Station and ended up at Esplanade, the second one started at Gol Park in South Kolkata to terminate near Jadavpur University. The BJP came to the rally without flags.

Many participants marched with symbolic anti-cockroach pesticide bottles of several companies, claiming they would spray them on cockroaches to get rid of them, while others carried posters of lizards to teach the cockroaches a lesson.

The counter-rallies were a “nationalist answer to the raising of anti-national slogans and attack on police and media men”, BJP leader and MLA Sajal Ghosh said.

State Minister Agnimitra Paul, who was among senior leaders leading the rally, said, “It is a message from the nationalist masses to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that people of Bengal are with him. No anti-national activity or hooliganism will be tolerated in Bengal.” Bengal Industries Minister Tapas Roy said, “This Tiranga Rally is not a party event but one that has been called by the Chief Minister to underscore the nationalistic values of Bengal. We are on the streets to register our protests against the elements who are stoking anti-India sentiments inside India … there are some people trying to exploit question paper leaks for political purposes, forgetting completely the fact that question papers were leaked 53 times during Congress rule and 7 times when Mamata Banerjee was in power.”

Left leaders like Md Salim promptly hit back, challenging the BJP to “prove who raised anti-national slogans from the rally.” Meanwhile, Kolkata Police on Monday arrested two more persons, taking the total number of arrests to 16 linked to Friday’s protests over the NEET examination paper leak.