Police also allegedly lathi-charged them when they went to meet the victims, Naqvi among the injured
Kolkata : The police allegedly baton-charged and injured some BJP activists, when a central delegation from the party went on a spot visit to Makra village in Birbhum district. Last week, three were killed and several others were injured in a clash between Trinamool Congress and BJP supporters.
The delegation comprising BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and MPs Kirti Azad and Udit Raj, accompanied by Rahul Sinha, state party president, went to Makra village to meet the victims. However, when they reached the village, the police detained them citing prohibitory orders under Sec 144.
When the BJP leader along with a large number of party supporters tried to break the barrier, police allegedly lathi charged and Naqvi was injured. Police arrested the BJP leaders and took them to Parui police station from where they were released. The BJP leadership alleged that the Trinamool Congress has been trying to “Gag the Opposition with brute force,” and cover up the incidents in Makra, where three were killed in a political clash on Monday.
The Birbhum district police had also on Wednesday prevented separate delegations of Congress and CPI (M) from meeting victims in Makra village.
Rahul Sinha, West Bengal BJP president, said, “The police said they will not let us enter (the village). The Trinamool Congress has looted the village, they feared we would unveil the truth…this is against democracy. We will raise our voice across Bengal. This agitation will go on.” A fact-finding team was sent to Birbhum by BJP President and asked to submit a report on the violence to the leadership. To protest the police action, a BJP delegation will meet the governor of West Bengal Kesari Nath Tripathi on Friday and submit a memorandum. The BJP will also observe a ‘Protest Day’ on Friday in the state.
The BJP has also demanded that the state government should award a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of each killed and Rs 2 lakh to the family of those injured.
West Bengal’s opposition Left Front will also meet the governor on Friday and lodge a complaint. Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar Ganguly, a retired Supreme Court judge and former human rights chief of West Bengal, expressed his concern for the deteriorating law and order condition in the state.
