Kolkata: Rallies by Bharatiya Janata Party workers and leaders in Kolkata and Howrah, against the ruling Trinamool Congress and the worsening of law and order in the state, on Thursday, October 8, got violent amidst stone pelting by protesters and use of force by police.Police personnel lathicharged, used tear gas and water cannons on the BJP workers at Santragachi in Howrah, causing injuries to BJP state vice-president Raju Banerjee and MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato. National secretary Arvind Menon was also injured.The TV channel News Time Bangla broadcast live footage that showed police striking BJP protesters, including leader Shivaji Sinha Roy, on the head while attempting to disperse crowds.“Several of our workers have been hurt. Police have beaten workers the way they treat anti-socials, while the real anti-socials roam freely,” said Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president, to local media.Later in the day, Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference to condemn police violence on party members and sounded a missive to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, saying the party will avenge this in the upcoming polls. “I have been told that the water that came out of the cannons fired by police could have had chemicals in them too. People started vomiting,” said Prasad, adding that thousands of BJP workers were injured.He also said that the silence over Bengal government’s excesses pointed to the “hypocrisy” of the “self appointed liberals of Delhi.”The BJP’s Yuva Morcha had organised four major rallies, two each from Kolkata and Howrah, to move towards the state secretariat of Nabanna, located at Shibpur in Howrah district. Newly appointed Yuva Morcha chief Tejasvi Surya had travelled to the city to attend them.At the same time, barricades were put up by police at several places to stop protesters.West Bengal: BJP workers set ablaze tires in Howrah during party’s state-wide ‘Nabanna Chalo’ agitation against the alleged killings of its workers. pic.twitter.com/CxWNZ7NayL— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2020In the Hastings area of Kolkata, police were liberal with their use of batons. BJP workers reportedly threw tear gas shells and used water cannons at the Howrah Maidan, and held MP and Union minister Babul Supriyo at the Kona Expressway.The protests come in the immediate aftermath of the murder of BJP leader Manish Shukla in Barrackpore, the latest in a series of killings of BJP workers and leaders in south Bengal.জলকামান, কাঁদানে গ্যাস মেরেও বিজেপিকে দমানো যাবেনা দিদি! বিজেপির কর্মীরা তাদের পতাকাকে শক্ত করে ধরে রাখবে এবং ২০২১ শে আপনার বিদায় সুনিশ্চিত করবে। #NabannoCholo pic.twitter.com/ERg8IkOSqP— BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) October 8, 2020The TMC government in the state on Wednesday denied permission to the programme citing the Epidemic Act and stating that democratic rallies within “permissible parameters” of only 100 participants will be allowed.ANI quoted BJP’s Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya as having said that all party “workers are wearing masks.” However, the photograph accompanying ANI’s Twitter post shows nearly all party members without a mask on their mouth and nose.The state government has also announced that Nabanna will be closed for two days from October 8 for “sanitisation”.
