The BJP’s anti-corruption rally on Tuesday turned Kolkata into a veritable battle zone with the saffron cadre fighting pitched battles with the police leaving scores of party workers and policemen injured and public properties damaged.
The BJP march to Nabanna, the State secretariat, was seen as an exercise to rejuvenate the party demoralised by the poor show in the last year’s Assembly polls. The march saw a prolonged guerrilla battle between the men in uniform and desperate bands of saffron people — who came over from different parts of the State in trains and buses and converged at various parts of Howrah and Kolkata.
All hell broke loose at Santragachi Railway Station, the spot closest to Nabanna across the Hooghly river, when the police had tough time to contain the charging BJP men who rained brickbats after the police lobbed teargas shells and charged water cannons at them.
The fight gathered momentum after the police detained State Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari and senior party functionaries Rahul Sinha and Locket Chatterjee, who were supposed to lead the Santragachi section of the rally.
The guerrilla battle lasted for more than four hours leaving a dozen of people from both sides injured and some others detained.
The BJP called “Nabanna Abhiyan” to protest against the rising corruption in the State that came to light after the Enforcement Directorate recovered crores of rupees from the apartments of ministers, TMC leaders and their close aides.
At Howrah Maidan, the second arm of the rally — which started from Howrah Station and was led by State BJP president Sukanto Majumdar — was comparatively peaceful. The police charged water cannons and lobbed tear gas shells here too leaving a number of people injured. Majumdar, however, said that the police were bursting bombs at the protesters.
The skirmish was more fierce in Kolkata where a section of the third chapter of the Abhiyan led by BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh rushed towards Lal Bazaar catching the police brass completely unawares.
Even as the mob entered the iconic police headquarters prompting cops to resort to lathicharge, a section of hooligans torched a PCR van, leading the local businessmen to quickly down their shutters and scurry for safety.
There were commotions in other districts too where the police allegedly stopped the BJP workers from coming to Kolkata. “So much so that they even dragged daily commuters from Kolkata-bound buses and trains suspecting them to be BJP men,” Majumdar said.
The police excesses led to spontaneous road blockades in East Midnapore, Asansol and other parts of the, sources said. Senior leaders like Adhikari, Majumdar, Chatterjee, Sinha and many others were released in the evening following a Calcutta High Court order.
The Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastav also called for a report from the Home Secretary on September 19 on the police action, BJP leader Priyanka Tiberwal said.
“The police are working like slaves of the Chief Minister … they attacked our men who were marching peacefully,” said Majumdar. Adhikari attacked the Chief Minister saying “her legs are trembling at the sight of BJP crowd … which is why she fled Kolkata on Tuesday … She is afraid of the BJP because she knows that her days in power are numbered … the people have known her real face … the queen of
scamsters.”
Dilip Ghosh the only leader who was not arrested on Tuesday, said that the BJP had achieved its goal by sending the message to the people that “our party is the only party which is there to fight for the people”.