Police stop Congress, BJP teams from visiting Sandeshkhali, cite restrictions
While the BJP delegation which had planned to visit Sandeshkhali went to the West Bengal Raj Bhavan later, the Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury sat on a dharna at the place where he was stopped.
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Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was also stopped, pointed out that it was a public road. (Express photo by Partha Paul)The BJP and the Congress hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday after their delegations were stopped by the police from visiting unrest-hit Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district due to prohibitory orders.
The six-member BJP delegation, which included Union Ministers Annapurna Devi and Pratima Bhowmick, was stopped at Rampur, barely five kilometres away from Sandeshkhali. The Congress team was led by the party’s state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and was stopped at Sarberia and Rampur. The parties called the action “unconstitutional and unethical”.
Prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 have been imposed in Sandeshkhali after violent protests by local villages. The protesters accused local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides of land grabbing, sexually harassing women and assaulting local labourers.
According to reports, a team of BJP leaders reached Rampur Friday morning where they were stopped by the police from proceeding towards Sandeshkhali.
The BJP leaders alleged that they were heckled by the police. The leaders sat on a dharna on the road for hours.
Devi told reporters: “It is unconstitutional and unethical to stop us and other MPs (from going to Sandeshkhali). You can’t stop criminals but you are proactive in stopping MPs and ministers, who are here just to hear people’s plight.”
BJP MLA from South Asansol Agnimitra Paul said: “We said only five members will go, but they still didn’t let us go. Then, we asked for the two ministers to be allowed to go, but the police still did not budge.”
The team also spoke to some of the women in Sandheskhali on a video call. Around 1 pm, the BJP committee left for Raj Bhawan in Kolkata to meet Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Later, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury protested on a road in Rampur after police stopped him from going to Sandeshkhali. The Behrampore MP questioned the installation of police barricades in Rampur. “It is a public road. Why are there barricades? I am standing about 5 km away from Sandeshkhali. Why we are being stopped,” said Chowdhury. On the CM’s allegations that the BJP and RSS was “fomenting trouble in Sandeshkhali”, he said: “She is trying to paint this as a communal incident. What is the connection between RSS and Sandeshkhali? We condemn such politics.”
TMC MP Shantanu Sen said: “Why did the BJP not show such proactiveness in Hathras (in Uttar Pradesh). Police did the right thing by stopping the BJP delegation. It intends to vitiate the atmosphere of the state.”
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