Video shows the moment a man started the fire in a Kolkata Police vehicle.
Kolkata:
Torching of a police vehicle has become a central point of BJP’s protest in Kolkata that turned violent yesterday, with videos showing how it was ransacked, its windshields and windowpanes smashed, and a man lighting the fire up close.
Youth Congress national chief BS Srinivas tweeted a close-up video, which shows a man in a saffron T-shirt using a cigarette lighter to set fire to a towel kept in the police van. “Just identify, which party’s ‘nationalist rioters’ are burning police jeeps in West Bengal?” he wrote, in Hindi.
जरा पहचानिये, ये किस पार्टी के ‘राष्ट्रवादी दंगाई’ पश्चिम बंगाल में पुलिस जीप जला रहे है? pic.twitter.com/9CvctuRgKT
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) September 13, 2022
He tweeted another video that showed men waving BJP flags and ransacking the police vehicle. In the caption, he took jibes at PM Narendra Modi’s past statements: “I am sure the Prime Minister will identify these rioters by their clothes and flags, and, in his heart, will never be able to forgive them.”
मुझे यकीन है कि प्रधानमंत्री इन दंगाइयों के कपड़े, झंडे देखकर इन्हें पहचान लेंगे और दिल से कभी भी माफ नही करेंगे..! pic.twitter.com/mIgL4gP55S
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) September 13, 2022
The BJP denied its workers lit the fire. “Police may done it themselves,” said Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, “Our workers were not carrying any weapons. Maybe Trinamool Congress’s jihadis came and carried out the violence.” The party has claimed the violence started upon provocation by police.
Mr Adhikari was one of the leaders detained yesterday after violence erupted near Howrah railway station when police tried to prevent BJP’s protest march against alleged corruption of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool government.
The BJP had arranged special trains, besides buses and boats, for supporters to reach Howrah, from where ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ — a march to the Nabanna or state secretariat — was to be held.
But the police had set up barricades, which the BJP men broke through, leading to clashes with police. Protesters threw stones while police used a water cannon and tear gas. Traffic on the iconic Howrah Bridge was stopped too. There were detentions of BJP leaders in Hastings area, and a clash between party workers and cops outside the Raniganj railway station.
The Calcutta High Court later sought a report from the state Home Secretary by September 19.
Trinamool Congress leader Sougata Roy, meanwhile, said the police showed “exemplary restraint” even when “BJP workers were provoking the cops to open fire”. He also hit back at the BJP’s charge that Mamata Banerjee runs a “dictatorship”.
Suvendu Adhikari, Ms Banerjee’s aide-turned-chief rival, had accused her of running a dictatorship “like North Korea”.
It shows that the dictatorial regime is running WB with blatant disregard towards the fundamental rights of citizens. Liberate Police from your clutches @MamataOfficial. Let Policing be impartial. They’re also human beings & not slaves to run personal errands for Bua Bhatija.
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) September 13, 2022
When the protest was still on, and videos of violence were going viral, Trinamool’s Sougata Roy said, “Where did Mamata Banerjee show dictatorship? The programme (BJP rally) has been continuing since noon. The police have not fired on anybody”.
“The BJP workers have thrown stones and bricks at random. They have injured several policemen including IPS officers. They have broken cars in Burrabazar area… Very few BJP people have been injured. In every TV screen you can see BJP workers throwing stones,” he said.
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