At least four people were arrested on September 14 for allegedly assaulting a police officer and setting a police vehicle on fire in Kolkata during the BJP’s rally, an official said.
The arrests were made during night-long raids in Beliaghata, Topsia and Bowbazar areas, he said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Debajit Chattopadhyay was chased and assaulted with sticks by some people in the Bowbazar area during the BJP’s ‘March to Nabanna’ rally on September 13.
A police vehicle was also torched near the Kolkata Police headquarters Lalbazar.
“The raids are still going on,” said an officer of Kolkata Police on September 14 afternoon. The four arrested persons were identified from video clips of the two incidents, he said.
They have been booked under sections dealing with attempt to murder, destruction of government property and preventing public servant from performing duty, the officer said.
Mr. Chattopadhyay suffered multiple fractures and is at present undergoing treatment at a hospital, he said.
BJP’s national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said the attacks were the handwork of TMC supporters who got into the rally.
“Our activists are being framed and false charges slapped against them,” he alleged.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra said what if the West Bengal government follows the Uttar Pradesh “model” and “send bulldozers to homes of BJP workers who destroyed public property”.
BJP lawless under Mamata Banerjee-led government: BJP
Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that West Bengal has become a “lawless” and “bankrupt” state under the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government.
Responding to the clashes after party workers were prevented by cops from marching towards the secretariat in the State capital, the party on September 14 hit out at Ms. Banerjee for inflicting “police torture” on its members to suppress their voice.
The BJP had launched a protest march against the ruling Trinamool Congress’ alleged corrupt practises.
Former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the TMC supremo, saying she speaks of saving democracy outside the State while crossing all limits to curb people’s democratic and civil rights inside Bengal.
Suggesting that intra-party rivalry within the TMC may be behind the use of force against BJP members, he said the chief minister’s conduct has been “contrary” to her political evolution, noting her rise from the grassroots and long struggle against the earlier Left rule.
Is the fight for succession going on in the TMC, he asked, hinting about the reported differences between the chief minister and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee without naming the second most powerful leader in the regional party.
She has now left the Left behind in inflicting atrocities and brutalities on the BJP, he claimed, asserting that the TMC cannot stop his party’s march in the state.
“Under Mamata Banerjee West Bengal has become a lawless and bankrupt state,” Mr. Prasad said.
Parts of Kolkata and Howrah district turned into a battlefield on September 13 as BJP supporters clashed with the police while trying to get past barricades erected to prevent them from marching towards the West Bengal secretariat ‘Nabanna’.
While the BJP alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government does not want to give space to opposition parties, the TMC described the saffron camp workers as “hooligans”.
