BJP's 12-hour shutdown partially affects life in West Bengal
Kolkata/Berhampore: The 12-hour West Bengal bandh called by the BJP to protest the police action on the "Nabanna Cholo" rally disrupted normal life across the state on Wednesday. In many districts, the BJP workers clashed with the police when they tried to enforce a shutdown. Train services in the state were mostly affected, though bus and metro services remained normal.
Kolkata, however, remained unaffected by and large. At Shyambazar in the northern parts of the city, the BJP and the TMC workers clashed with each other, but the police contained the situation. The BJP workers vandalised police barriers at MG Road during an agitation in central Kolkata.
Joint commissioner of police (headquarters) Meeraj Khalid informed in the evening that 64 people were arrested for violating law and order during the bandh.
At around 6 am, BJP supporters led by their party MLA of Bongaon North Ashok Kirtania came to Bongaon railway station in North 24 Parganas. They put up a railway blockade that brought train movements to a halt.
At Hooghly station, another group of BJP workers made similar obstruction. Same scene prevailed in Murshidabad. At Murshidabad station, the BJP workers, led by BJP Murshidabad MLA Gouri Shankar Ghosh, allegedly assaulted a train passenger who protested and demanded his one-day wage from them.
The RPF personnel rescued the passenger and removed protesters from the railway tracks. At Berhampore station, the BJP supporters blocked the Lalgola-bound Ranaghat MEMU passenger train.
In another incident, irate bandh supporters led by BJP Murshidabad district president Sakharov Sarkar allegedly heckled the headmistress of J.N. Academy for refusing to close the school as the students had already reached the institute. Later, the police intervened and the bandh supporters left the school.
The bandh supporters also fought a pitched battle with the police at the Murshidabad district administrative office in Berhampore. Shops were forcibly closed in various parts of the district.
In Nadia, allegations surfaced against Ranaghat BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar of slapping a Trinamul Congress worker. Krishnanagar station witnessed a rail blockade too.
In Malda, the TMC and the BJP workers clashed with each other in the Old Malda area. A North Bengal state transport corporation bus was vandalised by the bandh supporters. In Coochbehar, 30 BJP workers, including two party MLAs -- Malati Rava Roy and Nikhil Ranjan De, were arrested by the police for trying to enforce the bandh.
At Konnagar in Hooghly, the TMC and the BJP workers got into a tussle over shutting down local businesses.