Trinamul Congress holds statewide anti-BJP stir

Kolkata: The Trinamul Congress (TMC) took to the streets on Sunday blaming the BJP for stirring up fresh trouble in the Darjeeling Hills where peace was returning after months of unrest.

The party took out rallies across the state and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tit-for-tat protest.

The BJP had on Saturday burnt effigies of chief minister Mamata Banerjee for keeping mum on the recent attack on the party’s state unit chief Dilip Ghosh in the Hills.

“We took out rallies across the state and burnt Narendra Modi’s effigy to counter the saffron party's attempt to create disturbance in the Darjeeling Hills,” the state power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay told reporters. Leading the protest in Behala in south Kolkata, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee accused the BJP of trying to disturb the peace in the Hills.

Mr Chatterjee also alleged that the Centre was helping the divisive forces in the Hills. “When peace has returned to the hills, the BJP is trying to disturb it. It is helping a person (Bimal Gurung), who has cases under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) lodged against him. If it (BJP) tries to disturb the peace, the people of Bengal will never forgive it,” Mr Chatterjee said.

Stating that the TMC was not involved in the attack on Mr Ghosh in Darjeeling, Mr Chatterjee said that it was an outburst of the Hill people who agitated against the BJP team’s visit.

State Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee also led a protest demonstration at Gariahat. “The BJP is also trying to disturb  development programmes, initiated by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee. They will never succeed,” Mr Mukherjee said. Demonstrations were also held in different districts.

The BJP on Saturday took out rallies, burnt effigies of CM Mamata Banerjee in various parts of the state and staged a sit-in here protesting against the attack on its state president Dilip Ghosh in Darjeeling recently.    

During Mr Ghosh’s visit to the Hills, agitators waved black flags and demanded that Mr Ghosh along with his team should leave the Hills immediately and refrain from disturbing the “peace and stability” in the region.