Bharatiya Janata Party calls ‘Bengal Bandh’ over ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ clashes

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a ’12-hour Bengal Bandh’ on Wednesday (August 28) in protest against police crackdown on peaceful protest during ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ – march to state secretariat on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Agnimitra Paul lashed out at the Bengal government as she took part in the 12-hour ‘Bengal Bandh’ called by her party on Wednesday. She said that the police and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government have become spineless.

Paul also mentioned that the police have invalidated the orders of the Supreme Court. The BJP leader further said that it is clear that CM Mamata is scared and she wants to stop this student agitation by using the police and administration.

“If she was not afraid, she would not have used lathi charge, tear gas. This injustice will not work. Mamata Banerjee is insulting the people who have put her on the throne today,” Agnimitra Paul added.

“They are going around with a disgusting attitude. They have all become spineless. Police have invalidated the orders of the Supreme Court. They used water cannons mixed with chemicals on the protestors. They are unable to provide safety to women of the state and when women protest, they use force to disperse them. We will continue to protest,” she said.

It is pertinent to note, that drivers and conductors of government buses in Kolkata have been instructed by the administration to wear helmets. Speaking to ANI, a bus driver said, “Today is bandh, so we are wearing helmets.”

Notably, the bandh by the BJP has been called after the police used lathi charges and tear gas on protestors during the BJP’s protest march yesterday.

The rally termed ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ started from the College Square in the capital of West Bengal, amid heightened security around the West Bengal state secretariat with protestors gathering at the Santragachi area in Howrah.

Later, the police hosed protestors with water cannons as they climbed atop police barricades, clashed with police personnel and broke the barricades at Santragachi in Howrah during the protest march.

Protestors also dragged away police barricades and police resorted to opening lathi-charge and lobbing tear gas shells to disperse them.

Following the chaos, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) TMC listed “BJP’s idea of a ‘peaceful protest’,” in a social media post in X, which includes stone pelting, pushing barricades, severely injuring the police, orchestrating extreme chaos and disrupting the law and order of the state.

TMC further stated that the “Nabanna Abhiyan” was a conspiracy by the BJP and was “nothing short of a FATAL ATTACK on Bengal!”

All these came following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital premises, which sparked nationwide outrage and since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall on August 9.