The BJP has called for a general strike from 6 am to 6 pm in West Bengal to protest against the police action against those who participated in the march to the state secretariat ‘Nabbana’ on Tuesday.
“The government will not allow any protest on Wednesday. We urge people not to participate. All necessary steps will be taken to ensure that normal life is not affected,” said Alapan Bandopadhyay, a senior adviser to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
He said transport services will remain operational and shops, markets and other commercial establishments have been asked to remain open.
Bandopadhyay also urged state government employees to attend office.
Police used batons, tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who tried to reach ‘Nabanna’ to demand the resignation of the CM over the rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
“We are forced to call a general strike from dawn to dusk as this autocratic regime is turning a deaf ear to the voices of the people, demanding justice for the deceased doctor sister. Instead of justice, Mamata Banerjee’s police are turning against the peace-loving people of the state, who only wanted a safe environment for women,” said BJP state president and union minister Sukanta Majumdar.
Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari had earlier told reporters, “The police unleashed an unthinkable crackdown on students who were peacefully marching towards Nabanna during the day. If Mamata Banerjee’s police treat peaceful democratic protesters in this manner, we will paralyse the entire state tomorrow.”
The call for the Nabanna march was given separately by an unregistered student body Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj (Community of West Bengal Students) and Sangrami Joutha Mancha (Joint Platform of Struggle), an organisation of state government employees who have been agitating for long demanding that their DA be made equal to that of their central government counterparts.
Responding to the BJP’s call to shut down Parliament, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh said, “We have been claiming all along that the Chhatra Samaj-sponsored Nabanna Abhijan had the backing of the BJP. This was evident from the way miscreants in the guise of student protesters created large-scale riots in the name of peaceful protests today. This was clear from the way the BJP wasted no time in calling for a strike to foment unrest,” Ghosh told reporters.
He said that the people of the state would frustrate the BJP’s game plan.
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