Supporters of the Trinamool Congress and BJP clashed at Sakherbazar locality in Kolkata’s Behala area on Sunday evening after former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb addressed a public gathering there.
The stage set for the BJP event was set on fire, it is learnt.
Deb participated in the programme as part of the party’s Parivartan Sankalp Yatra’.
The clash took place over the use of a high volume of microphones at a local club where a badminton match was taking place, locals said.
The BJP supporters alleged that the loud music being played at the club was causing disturbance in the party’s programme.
But a scuffle broke out when they demanded that the volume be lowered, they said.
On the other hand, the TMC supporters alleged that the BJP workers ransacked the club and broke chairs there.
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The ruling party’s supporters reached the BJP programme venue and set the makeshift stage on fire, it was alleged.
Deb had left the venue by then, it is learnt.
A large number of police personnel were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control, an official said.
TMC MLA Ratna Chatterjee, who reached the spot, said, “This badminton tournament has been held for nearly 10 years on this very day. I was told that some BJP supporters entered the club and ransacked it and stopped the badminton match. I feel that this was done intentionally by the BJP. But they do not know we will become stronger with such attacks.”
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BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar posted on X, “During Mamata Banerjee’s regime, West Bengal has effectively descended into the bottomless abyss of lawlessness, the shameful consequences of which are becoming evident every day across the entire state. The Trinamool Congress is using its anti-social criminal gangs to threaten and attack officials of India’s Election Commission, who are appointed to constitutional duties. At the same time, workers and supporters of opposition political parties are being subjected to planned torture and assaults… Today, an entire “jungle raj” reigns openly across West Bengal. This time, the Trinamool Congress has crossed all limits of injustice. Today, in the Behala West Assembly constituency area of South Kolkata, the miscreants of Trinamool launched a barbaric attack on the meeting of the Honorable Election Co-in-Charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party West Bengal and former Chief Minister of Tripura @BjpBiplab. Along with extensive vandalism at the meeting venue and stage, a brutal incident occurred where they even set fire to the stage.”
Even Kolkata Police officials present at the spot took no steps to stop the “frensied Trinamool goon brigade”, he claimed.
“This incident clearly proves that the failed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress are gripped by deep fear. Having lost the capacity to face the people’s verdict through democratic means, they have chosen terror and violence as their only weapon,” he added.
