The Bengal police used "disproportionate force" to crack down on BJP protesters, for which the Mamata Banerjee government should be blamed, the BJP's Swapan Dasgupta told NDTV today in an exclusive interview. "I don't blame the police. I blame the state government. Mamata Banerjee does not want a protest from the BJP. She is happy to allow protests from the Left but not the BJP," he said.
Parts of state capital Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah turned into battle zone during the BJP protest earlier today. Protesters making their way to the state secretariat from various parts of the city clashed with the police. Videos from the spot showed flag-waving protesters taking on the police, beating them with bamboo poles. There was arson too, with a police car being torched in the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road area of central Kolkata.
The police used batons, tear gas 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.
Mr Dasgupta, who had participated in today's protests and emerged looking shaky, said the police had first used water cannons, which was immediately followed by tear gas. Then they used batons on the protesters, unleashing panic and chaos.
Calling it a sad day for democracy, he said, "Ours was a high-spirited, but peaceful demonstration... Look at the steps they (the police) took. Police entered railway platforms, which is outside their jurisdiction, and got people out. Where Suvendu Adhikari was protesting, they put metal barricades to stop people from coming."
Asked about the videos of violence, where flag-waving protesters were seen targeting the police, he said all of that took place "outside the main body of demonstration, which gives rise to suspicion on who were these protesters".
The Trinamool has claimed that the police showed extreme restraint in face of BJP provocation, citing the police firing in 1993 in which 13 Trinamool workers were killed in Kolkata.
Pointing out that despite being under attack from protesters in which several policemen were injured, the police did not open fire, Trinamool's Sougata Roy had told NDTV that the BJP plan was to provoke the force till they opened fire.
Reiterating the BJP's big complaint against the ruling Trinamool Congress, Mr Dasgupta claimed that politics in Bengal has become violent over the years. "Let us hope the same does not happen in the build up to 2024".
The BJP protest, he said, was a movement and anger over the cases of corruption against Trinamool leaders. Asked about the allegations against Trinamool leaders who joined the BJP -- a situation the opposition parties have dubbed whitewash -- he said in Suvendu Adhikari's case, "there is no evidence".
"Compare this case to the many cases against Trinamool leaders… the heaps of money being recovered from rooms and under the bed," he said, without naming the state's former minister Partha Chatterjee, who was sacked after crores were found from the house of his close aide Arpita Mukherjee.
