[Mamata Banerjee with injured students. She called a rally on Wednesday to protest against the vandalisation of the bust of Vidyasagar. (Photo: Twitter/@AITCofficial)]
Kolkata: Clashes broke out between BJP supporters and student activists and those of the Left and Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad (TMCP) during BJP Chief Amit Shah's roadshow in the city on Tuesday, officials said.
According to reports, trouble started when BJP workers clashed with Calcutta University students who were showing black flags to Amit Shah. The incident took place when BJP Chief's convoy was passing by Calcutta University’s College Street campus.
Students, learnt to be members of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) – the student wing of TMC, were protesting near the front gate of the University and shouting “Amit Shah go back” slogans. Angered by the protest, BJP workers, including ABVP activists, threw water bottles, bricks, stones and sticks at the protesters.
In a bid to outwit the agitators, the saffron party supporters played music in full volume and also held up the big cut-outs, festoons on the roadside to overshadow the black flags. The moment Shah passed the spot, both the parties broke the police barricade and started flinging chairs and guard-rails at each other.
Moments later, another clash broke out between the two groups in front of the Vidyasagar College which spilled within the campus. Three two-wheelers were set afire in front of the college.
A bust of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar was allegedly vandalised by the saffron brigade.
"We were peacefully protesting against the BJP from inside the campus. All of a sudden, they pelted stones and jumped the boundary wall of the college and attacked us. Many of us have been injured," an injured student said.
Amit Shah on the other hand blamed the Trinamool Congress for the violence.
"There were disturbances in two places during my rally here as the Trinamool supporters tried to create violence and threw stones and bricks at us," he said.
Condemning the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of fomenting violence and said police should not have given permission for Shah's roadshow.
"We are ashamed that Vidysagar's bust was vandalised. Do (BJP) they know who Vidyasagar was? Why did police allow the roadshow? They are trying to create unrest and stoke fire in Bengal. I will not spare anyone if Bengal's heritage is destroyed," Banerjee said, directing state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee to rush to the spot.
Later, Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of pumping in "hawala money" in Kolkata to lure voters and also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi more "dangerous than Hitler",
Addressing successive rallies in the city for the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha polls, the Trinamool Congress chief lashed out at Modi for demolishing democratic instituions and highjacking the poll process through money and muscle power.
"I have never seen such blatant use of money power. They have hijacked the state machinery. Crores of rupees are being distributed in Kolkata. All this is hawala money. They are distributing as much as Rs 5,000 per vote. Is this an election or a joke," she said at a rally in Jadavpur here.
She also claimed that BJP has brought in goons from other states to Kolkata and asked people to be aware.
"Beware of Modi, he is more dangerous than Hitler, he is dangerous than all facists together. If somehow he manages to come back, he will sell off the country. Will you vote for such a man," asked Banerjee.
She also targeted Modi for not declaring any information about his wife in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission.
"How did the Election Commission allow his nomination? He says he doesn't know about his wife's address or her income or her properties," she said at a rally in Tolygunge.
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