West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party got into a bitter fight over clashes between two groups in Kolkata's Khidderpore-Mominpur area. Several people were injured in the incident.
While the state mentioned they had controlled the situation, several BJP leader said the police were mute spectators to the clashes. The saffron camp claimed law and order have worsened in West Bengal, drawing a sharp retort from the ruling TMC, which accused the BJP of trying to vitiate the state's atmosphere.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, who tried to visit the area, was stopped and arrested on Monday. Police said that clashes broke out between two groups in the Khidderpore-Mominpur area on Sunday evening over some local issues, in which several people were injured. The agitators also staged a protest outside the Ekbalpur police station.
Personnel of the police including those of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in the area.
"I have written to Hon'ble Union Home Minister Shri@AmitShah Ji & Hon'ble Governor Shri La Ganesan Ji requesting them to urgently deploy Central Forces in the wake of Mominpur violence & ransacking of Ekbalpur Police Station before the Law & Order situation of WB gets out of hand," Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari tweeted.
Majumdar, who wanted to visit the area, was stopped at the Chingrighata area in north Kolkata and was asked to go back as Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 of the CrPC had been imposed in the area.
"Sukanta Majumdar was later arrested and taken to Lalbazar police headquarters," a senior police official said Hitting out at the saffron camp for allegedly trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state, senior TMC leader Sougata Roy said the police had taken all the steps needed to bring the situation under control.
"The miscreants have been arrested. What will Sukanta Majumdar do by going there apart from giving hate speeches? The BJP is trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state. The BJP should stop politicising every incident," Roy said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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