The BJP called for a 12-hour general strike in West Bengal on August 28 to protest against the police action on those who took part in the march to the State Secretariat Nabbana on Tuesday.
The police used batons, tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd who proceeded to the State Secretariat.
They were demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor in a state-run hospital earlier this month.
Protestors attempted to break through police barricades in an effort to reach the secretariat. Agitators threw bricks at police, injuring several officers, while protestors claimed that police action also injured several students.
Trouble escalated when the student organisation, ‘Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj’, and the dissident state government employees’ platform ‘Sangrami Joutha Mancha’ began their ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally from various points.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has also demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a polygraph test on Banerjee and Police Commissioner Vineet Goel, who the party alleged had initially said that the victim died by suicide.
“We are forced to give the call for a general strike as this autocratic regime is turning a deaf ear to the voices of people, demanding justice for the deceased doctor’s sister. Instead of justice, Mamata Banerjee’s police are turning on the peace-loving people of the state, who only want a safe and secure environment for women,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari alleged that police resorted to “brutal repression” on peaceful participants of '’Nabanna Abhijan’ rally and threatened to stall West Bengal if the “brutalities” by state administration was not stopped.
Adhikari said, “If the police repression is not stopped immediately, we (BJP) will stall West Bengal tomorrow.
An alarming situation has been created by this administration. Scores of protestors have been injured. If the commissioner of police Vineet Goyal and the DGP don’t stop such brutalities, we will not sit idle. I am going to Howrah station en route to Belur Math as I don’t want to break the law. We are not joining the Chhatra Samaj movement as they had asked us not to come to the forefront but we are with them,” he said.
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