Kolkata, March 15 – The political confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress continued on Sunday over clashes between supporters of the two parties at Girish Park in central Kolkata.
The clashes occurred before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in the city on Saturday afternoon, during which an inspector of the Kolkata Police and a member of the West Bengal cabinet were reportedly injured.
Following night-long operations that resulted in the arrest of four individuals, the West Bengal unit of the BJP has claimed that the action was one-sided. The BJP has alleged that its supporters were targeted, and that the tension was fueled by activists from the ruling party who attacked a bus carrying supporters to PM Modi's rally at Brigade Parade Ground in central Kolkata.
While neither the Trinamool Congress nor the BJP had registered First Information Reports (FIRs) in the matter, the city police initiated an investigation after registering an FIR and arresting four individuals, three of whom are active BJP supporters, namely Krishanu Bose, Sunny Dey, and Charanjit Singh.
Sajal Ghosh, a BJP councillor in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, has claimed that none of the three BJP supporters arrested in connection with the case were present near the site of the clashes.
"I challenge the Kolkata Police to release the CCTV footage. Also, their mobile tower locations at the time of the clashes should be released. The police, at the insistence of the Trinamool Congress, have unnecessarily arrested them and have also slapped attempted murder charges," Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Banerjee, General Secretary of the Trinamool Congress, condemned this development, in which the West Bengal Minister for Women & Child Development and Social Welfare, Dr. Sashi Panja, was reportedly injured, and stated that it was not just an attack on a female minister but also an attack on every woman in the state.
"This is the culture of the BJP. These outsiders want to import their politics of provocation into West Bengal. They want to destroy peace. They want to spread fear. This will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. West Bengal will not tolerate the BJP's saffron hooliganism," said Banerjee.
Earlier on Saturday, the Election Commission (EC) had sought a detailed report from Kolkata Police Commissioner, Supratim Sarkar, on the clashes.
The EC also sought a report on the attack on Minister Shashi Panja's residence following the clashes from a senior state government official.
The poll panel further sought a detailed explanation as to why central paramilitary forces, which have already been deployed in the state for the upcoming Assembly polls, were not used to control the situation.