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Follow UsThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a 12-hour bandh in West Bengal to protest against the police response to demonstrators marching toward the state secretariat.
This march was organized in reaction to the tragic rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Sukanta Majumdar, President of the Bengal BJP, has urged residents to join the general strike scheduled from 6 AM to 6 PM tomorrow. Majumdar condemned the incident, calling it a severe threat to public safety and demanding prompt action from state authorities.
The protest march, known as 'Nabanna Abhiyan', escalated into violence when demonstrators broke through police barricades at Santragachi in Howrah and clashed with officers, prompting a response from the Kolkata Police.
Starting from College Square in Kolkata and heading towards Nabanna, the state secretariat where the chief minister’s office (CMO) is located, the marchers were halted at the iconic Howrah bridge. The police used lathi charges, water cannons, and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Before the march began, Kolkata Police fortified the high-security zone and blocked all routes leading to Nabanna. Regarding the police actions, BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla criticized West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of acting like a dictator rather than a leader.
He claimed that Banerjee's administration had shielded the rapists, destroyed evidence, and stifled the truth, actions for which both the Supreme Court and High Court had reprimanded her. He added that as citizens, including students and doctors, protested to demand justice for the victim, Banerjee's government obstructed their path.
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya also criticized Mamata Banerjee, suggesting she is so intimidated by the student protests that she ordered Kolkata Police to place large containers on the roads to block the protesters from reaching Nabanna. He questioned if she envisioned students seeking justice for the RG Kar case marching in tanks.