Bhubaneswar: Hitting out at Odisha’s BJD government, senior BJP leaders on Wednesday alleged that party’s youth wing activists were attacked by police and ruling party ‘goons’ during a protest rally in Bhubaneswar.
Addressing a press meet in Bhubaneswar, BJP state president Samir Mohanty said the party planned to gherao the Odisha Assembly and stage demonstration peacefully on Tuesday against alleged deterioration in law and order situation.
However, videos of the scene showed that some youths in white shirts were attacking the BJP protesters, Mohanty claimed and sought to know as to who these people were.
Claiming that these attackers appeared to be BJD ‘goons’, the senior BJP leader alleged that these people first attacked the protesters and then pelted stones at the police.
When police resorted to lathi-charge on BJP demonstrators, the goons again attacked police personnel, alleged Mohanty.
He also alleged that the police personnel also misbehaved with women workers of BJP.
Attacking the government in same vein, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra condemned alleged police excesses during the BJP rally.
He sought to know as to who were the people in black and white shirts who attacked the activists.
Mohanty further said that BJP Yuva Morcha leaders wanted to lodge a complaint regarding alleged attack on protesters and waited outside Capital Police Station for several hours, but no FIR was registered.
Mohanty alleged that some people with vested interests created trouble and some police officers attacked BJP activists to please and prove their loyalty to the state government.
Senior BJP leader and Union Edciation Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also condemned ‘police excesses’ on party leaders and activists. In a series of tweets, Dharmendra said that the police attacked the political activists as if they were ‘criminals’.
The way police took action in one-sided manner is not healthy for democracy, the Union Minister said.
“Everyone has the right to protest in a democracy. The activists of Yuva Morcha are activists of a political party. But the police inhumanely attacked them not as political activists but as criminals, which is worrying,” the BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJD also condemned violence during the BJP Yuva Morcha protest. They claimed that police were attacked first and their action was in self defense.
‘Goondaraj’ in the name of protest by BJP Yuva Morcha is not acceptable in a peaceful state like Odisha, BJD spokesperson Srimayee Mishra said.
