BJP leaders arrested while trying to enter Birbhum

KOLKATA: The Bengal police on Thursday arrested BJP leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Kirti Azad and others when they tried to visit the violence-ravaged Makra village in Birbhum, defying prohibitory orders.

“The kind of energy the Trinamul government used in stopping us from entering the village, if they had used half of that energy in curbing subversive and anti-national forces, it would have done a great service to the state,” Mr Naqvi said.

“Innocent villagers were slaughtered and their homes burned down in Parui. The situation in Bengal is alarming,” Mr Naqvi claimed.

Describing Makra as another Nandigram, state BJP president Rahul Sinha said he was delighted by the “police action.”