Kolkata | The TMC ad BJP workers scuffle took a violent turn during BJP Chief Amit Shah’s rally yesterday, with both the parties pinning the blame on each other.
It is not exactly clear how the violence started, however, according to the news agency ANI, some miscreants first started throwing sticks near College Street in which the BJP president Amit Shah was travelling in.
The incident took place as Amit Shah’s convoy was passing by Calcutta University.
Amit Shah’s roadshow covered about 4 km from Esplanade at the centre of the city to Swami Vivekananda’s residence in north Kolkata. College Street formed a stretch towards the end of the route.
The BJP responded by throwing stones and sticks towards the university gates.
TMC student union leaders started shouting “Chowkidaar Chor Hai”, and the BJP shouted “Jai Shri Ram”, in reference to Amit Shah’s challenge to Banerjee.
BJP activists locked the gates of the hostel and set cycles and motorcycles parked outside on a fire.
A statue of Bengali writer and 19th-century philosopher Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar near Vidyasagar College was vandalised. Vandals set the college gate on fire.
“The way people had gathered for the BJP roadshow in Kolkata, almost every person in the city was present. There was no place to even stand along the eight-kilometre stretch. Frustrated goons of Mamata didi’s TMC attacked the roadshow. There was a medical college 200 meters away from my rath, the attack began from there. Inflammatory substances were thrown and there were attempts to create a stampede,” Amit Shah told news agency ANI.
The BJP chief claimed that the police were mute spectators to the violence. “They deviated from the planned route and took a way where there were traffic jams,” he said. “I was not allowed to reach Swami Vivekananda’s house to pay tributes and I am saddened by it.”
On the other hand, Banerjee blamed the BJP for the violence. “You have broken the gate of Vidyasagar College, vandalised the Vidyasagar statue,” she said at a rally in Behala area. “I will not accept this. If you lay your hands on Vidyasagar, what will I call you other than a goonda. I hate your ideology, I hate your ways.”
Amit Shah escaped unhurt but was forced to cut short his roadshow.
Meanwhile, the police detained over 100 and are trying to determine the ones who are responsible.
TMC leader Derek O’ Brien shared a picture of the broken statue.
He also wrote later, “Desperate BJP goons from outside Bengal smash statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar inside the college… How little you know about Bengal, its rich history, its culture. Bengal will never forgive for what you did today”.
Here’s a picture of the desecrated bust of #Vidyasagar … More proof of vandalism by #BJP goons at Amit Shah’s road show. #Kolkata pic.twitter.com/vQDlKj6vfj
— Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) May 15, 2019
Both the parties have started calling names towards each other.
Posters of BJP have been taken down, but the Police explain the move as based on poll panel directives, as they had been put up on state government properties without permission.
BJP has urged the EC to ban Mamata Banerjee from campaigning.
“She [Banerjee] holds a constitutional post but has been using unconstitutional comments, asking her party workers to take revenge and indulge in violence,” Union minister and BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters after meeting the poll panel
With just one phase remaining of the Lok Sabha polls, the election campaigning seems to be getting only more intense.
The BJP and TMC have had a scuffle in the state in almost all the six phases.
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