Bengal strike: Violence erupts in some areas, BJP claims firing on activists

Kolkata, Aug 28; Tension is aggravating in different pockets of West Bengal over the 12-hour general strike called by the BJP on Wednesday as incidents of firing were being reported. In Bhatpara of North 24 Parganas district, firing took place, following which a local BJP supporter Rabi Singh, received bullet injuries and had to be hospitalised.

Former Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore and BJP leader Arjun Singh claimed that the injured supporter along with some of his associates were stopped on the road by the Trinamool Congress activists and were fired upon. “The ruling party activists have been creating terror in the area since morning to foil the strike, which is spontaneously supported by common people,” Singh said. However, the local ruling party leadership has denied the charges.

Meanwhile, in Cooch Behar district, two BJP legislators namely Malati Rava Roy from Tufanganj and Nikhil Ranjan Dey from Cooch Behar (South) were detained by police, as they along with their associates were protesting at the bus depot of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC). The police were seen dragging and pushing them in the prison van. As their associates protested a minor scuffle broke out between the cops and the striking supporters.

At Muchipara area in North Kolkata, a scuffle broke out between the BJP and Trinamool Congress supporters after the local BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh, along with his associates, started moving around the area in the morning requesting the local shop-owners to keep their establishments closed in support of the strike. Soon the local Trinamool Congress supporters came down to the streets opposing the movement of Ghosh and his associates, which led to the scuffle between the two groups. A police contingent reached the spot and separated the two groups.

The BJP has called the 12 hour Bandh to protest the police action on the youths during the 'Nabanna Abhijan' (March to Bengal Secretariat) rally on Tuesday. The rally was called to protest against the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor at state run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata earlier this month.