Union Minister Subhas Sarkar squarely blamed the state police over the Kolkata incident
The Mamata Banerjee government and its police are entirely responsible for the massive clash that took place during a party protest against the Trinamool Congress government's corruption in Bengal today, the BJP has said. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Union Minister Subhas Sarkar squarely blamed the state police, accusing them of targeting the protesters at the railway stations as they came to Kolkata, throwing stones at them during the protest and even placing barricades a kilometer from the state secretariat where the protesters were headed.
There was massive mob violence during the protest earlier today, during which a police car was torched. The police had to use batons and water cannons to bring the crowd under control. A group of leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and MP Locket Chatterjee were detained.
Asked about the matter, Mr Sarkar declared that the police "should protect their car".
"The police took action on the common people. The police pelted stones at the crowd. The police provoked the men to attack. The police provoked a peaceful demonstration. The common people came. They were angry," he told NDTV, insisting that he was not justifying violence.
The police, he claimed, "have wasted public money by putting barricades". In a democratic protest, barricades should be put close to secretariats, not several km away, he added. "This is a method of protest. Why should the administration stop them a few kilometers away? Why from the starting point they stopped it? They have provoked the people," he added.
Mr Sarkar's party colleague, Suvendu Adhikari, however, has claimed that breaking barricades is the norm during protests.
"Taking out a protest against corruption is like this only. The first barricade will be broken. Then they will stop at the second barricade, do some demonstration there and then it will end. What else is there?" he had told reporters.
Mr Sarkar, who is the junior education minister in the Narendra Modi government, also agreed. "This is the usual practice in politics. Because administration should have the patience and the worker should be satisfied. It is known to our CM (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) also. She also used to do this," he pointed out citing the long years of protest by Ms Banerjee when she was part of the opposition.
The BJP had arranged seven trains and scores of buses to bring in supporters to take part in the protest, which they termed "Nabanna Abhijan". Nabanna is the state secretariat near which the massive clashed took place.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has accused the BJP of using paid crowds to unleash violence and hooliganism.