The BJP has decided to go ahead with its rally to protest against violence and malpractices perpetrated by the ruling Trinamul even though Calcutta Police have denied permission to the saffron camp’s march planned for Wednesday.
According to sources, the saffron camp is preparing for all sorts of trouble that might arise if the police try to stop the rally.
“As usual we are not getting any cooperation from the police for the rally. The police have not given us permission but we will take out the rally,” BJP general secretary Jagannath Chatterjee said, on Tuesday, at a news conference.
Chatterjee later added that the police had cited a recent order from Calcutta High Court while denying permission for the rally.
“The police want us to write to them 15 days beforehand for an event. How is that possible? The panchayat poll results came out on June 11, should we have waited for fifteen days to protest against the atrocities during the polls?” he asked.
According to sources, the saffron camp is preparing itself in anticipation of heavy resistance from the police. BJP cadres are willing to take on the law enforcers in case the rally is not allowed to proceed.
The rally has been called to protest against the violence that was unleashed on BJP workers across Bengal during the panchayat polls. The top three leaders of the state unit, their chief Sukanta Majumdar, the leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, and the national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, will lead Wednesday’s rally. It will begin in front of College Square and conclude at Rani Rashmoni Avenue.
Chatterjee said that between June 10 and July 15, around 3,500 incidents of targeted attacks on BJP workers happened. He claimed that in these incidents about 2,900 BJP workers have been injured, of which 650 had to be admitted to the hospital, whereas 11 BJP members have been killed.
He added that organisational districts such as Diamond Harbour, Mathurapur, Joynagar, Bongaon, Basirhat, Contai, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, Katwa, rural and urban Howrah, Barasat, north Nadia, Serampore, West Midnapore, Jhargram, north Dinajpur, Ghatal, Barrackpore, and Birbhum have reported the maximum number violence. All these details have been annexed with the affidavit that the party has filed atthe Calcutta High Court.
“So it is evident that there is no geographical location in Bengal where our cadres have not been attacked by the Trinamul goons and the police,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adhikari and his colleague, MLA AgnimitraPaul, went to meet victims of poll violence in South 24-Parganas. They visited places likeMagrahat and Kultali, where Adhikari accompanied a woman BJP worker, who was beaten up allegedly by Trinamul goons, to the police station.
He alleged that the police had refused to take her complaint. The police registered the complaint in front of him.
Several saffron cadres met Adhikari and expressed their despair. The Nandigram MLAaccused the police of being stooges of the Mamata Banerjee government.
