Ram Navami Violence: Bengal BJP Chief Stopped From Visiting Violence Hit Hooghly

The BJP's West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday was stopped for the second consecutive day from visiting the riot-hit areas of Hooghly district by the police citing prohibitory orders.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC are in force in several places of the district where clashes broke out between two groups during a Ram Navami procession on Sunday.

Two Ram Navami processions were organised in Rishra area, and one of which was attacked near a Wellington Jute Mill More on GT Road around 6.15 pm on Sunday, police said.

Majumdar, an MP from Balurghat in North Bengal, was on his way to the Battala in the Serampore Lok Sabha area to attend a protest programme.

But Majumdar, along with his party MP Jyotoirmoy Singh Mahato, was stopped on Dankuni Road by the police.

"We did not break Sec 144. We requested the police to at least allow my party MP Jyotoirmoy Singh Mahato and me. The police don't want to allow me as they want to hide the truth," the BJP state president told reporters.

Majumdar, who had demanded that central forces be immediately deployed in the trouble-hit areas and an NIA probe as the "state police have completely failed to control the situation", said if he is not allowed to join the protest at Battala, he would launch a sit in on that spot.

The BJP state president on Monday was stopped from visiting the violence-hit Rishra area in Hooghly district by the police citing prohibitory orders in the area.

Reacting to his allegations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused the BJP of fomenting trouble.

"The BJP is trying to disrupt communal harmony and peace in the state. When the police have restored peace, why is the BJP trying to foment trouble? At the cost of peace, the BJP wants to get votes," he said.