West Bengal: BJP leaders stopped from organising Ganga Aarti in Gangasagar Mela, stage protest in city

Kolkata: The West Bengal BJP on Tuesday was denied permission by police to organise Ganga Aarti programme on the occasion of the Gangasagar mela starting in the state later this week, following which they staged a protest in the Babughat area of the city. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar later in the evening, organised a Ganga Aarti programme at Babughat without formal permission from Kolkata police. The BJP had announced that it would organise a Ganga Aarti programme on the occasion of the upcoming Gangasagar Mela in the state.

But the Kolkata police denied the permission, citing traffic congestion due to heavy movement of vehicular traffic and pilgrims arriving for the mela in the area and the ongoing G20 summit in the city's northern fringes.

As BJP supporters and workers gathered in front of Babughat to observe the programme, a scuffle ensued with the police. The police initially tried to stop the programme, but it snowballed into a scuffle between the saffron activists and police, following which the police arrested several BJP workers.

Later in the evening, Majumdar and BJP activists went to the Babughat area and performed Ganga Arati. "Whenever BJP plans to organise a programme, the police deny permission. It is not the first time that such an event has been organised. Every year during Gangasagar Mela, we organise this programme. But the police this time denied permission, citing flimsy reasons," he said.

Majumdar said the party had already sought permission from the army as the area belonged to the Ministry of Defence. "The police are citing the G-20 summit. It is being held in the Bidhannagar-Newtown area, and our event is at Babughat, which is quite far away. The police, under the instructions of the TMC, are stopping us from organising the event," he said.

He, along with other BJP activists, later squatted in front of prison vans, demanding that those arrested be released immediately. The allegations were dubbed as baseless by the Trinamool Congress.

"We have nothing to do with the police's permission. The BJP is trying to import the politics of UP and Hindi heartland in the state and vitiate the atmosphere of the state," TMC leader Debanghsu Bhattacharya said.