One dead as Bengal police lathicharge, use water cannon on BJP supporters during Siliguri rally

The police action started after BJP supporters, who were a part of a rally, tried to break barricades. Local reports indicated that protesters also retaliated by throwing stones at the police.

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New Delhi
December 7, 2020
UPDATED: December 7, 2020 16:24 IST
The police used water cannons and burst tear gas shells to stop the BJP workers from moving ahead, and were pelted with stones by the protesters in return. (Photo: ANI)

One BJP worker died as the Bengal police on Monday used water cannons and tear gas shells on protesters who were part of a BJP rally in West Bengal’s Siliguri.

BJP workers clashed with the police in north Bengal, as they were stopped from moving past barricades at two points near branch secretariat 'Uttarkanya' here during their rally in protest against TMC dispensation's "misrule".

The activists, as part of the 'Uttarkanya Abhijan' called by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), took out two protest marches, alleging that the state government has not fulfilled the promises made to the people of north Bengal, and benefits of the welfare schemes launched by the ruling dispensation have failed to reach the common man.

The police action started after BJP supporters tried to break barricades set up by the authorities. Local reports indicated that protesters also retaliated by throwing stones at the police. Some activists had even set fire to the bamboo barricades set up in the area.

In the ensuing violence, one BJP worker was killed while a number of BJP workers and police personnel have been injured in the incident.

The party's state president, Dilip Ghosh, who led a rally to Fulbari Bazar -- one of the two points approaching the secretariat building -- said the government was "using coercion" as it was scared of BJP's rise in Bengal.

Dilip Ghosh accused the local administration of setting up "a virtual island in Siliguri town by putting up multiple barricades in places to foil a democratic movement."

A second rally, led by party national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and BJYM national unit president Tejaswi Surya, broke the first two layers of the police cordon near Tinbatti more -- about 1 km from Uttarkanya -- but could not past the third.

According to BJP sources, Vijayvargiya and Surya had to be escorted to their vehicles by their personal security guards.

Speaking about the incident, BJP Yuva Morcha chief Tejasvi Surya said, "Many BJP workers injured during their peaceful protest. Democracy being murdered in West Bengal."

(with inputs from agencies)