New Delhi: Police and BJP workers clashed in West Bengal and a police car was set on fire near a police station in central Kolkata’s Burrabazar area this afternoon as several BJP leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, were detained when they were marching to state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ in Kolkata, as part of a huge protest over alleged corruption by the ruling Trinamool Congress government.
Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee and other party leaders, including Rahul Sinha, were stopped by the police as they approached the Second Hooghly Bridge near the secretariat, and taken away in a prison van, NDTV reported.
Party workers were taken into preventive custody in Raniganj as well. Hundreds of BJP supporters from across West Bengal arrived in Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah this morning to take part in the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ or march to the secretariat. While being dragged away by the police, Mr Adhikari said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has “turned West Bengal into North Korea,” the report added.
“Chief Minister Mamata does not have the support of her people and so she is enforcing dictatorship, similar to North Korea, in Bengal. The police will have to pay for what it is doing. The BJP is coming,” he said.
Adhikari was leading the march from the Santragachi area, while BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh was leading the protest from north Kolkata.
The BJP had arranged seven trains, three from north Bengal and four from the south for supporters to take part in the ‘Nabanna Abhijan.’ Buses carrying BJP workers to Kolkata were also stopped by the police in North 24 Parganas, the report added, quoting party sources.
