Several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal were held by the police in Kolkata on Monday when the party leaders organised a protest meet in the city to mark the anniversary of the Calcutta killings of 1946. The leaders got into a scuffle with the police and were arrested. The BJP leaders said that the police did not allow them to continue with a “peaceful protest”.
BJP leaders Dilip Ghosh, Suvendu Adhikary, Saumitra Khan were among those held. The BJP called the event “Save West Bengal Day”, on the day the Trinamool Congress is observing the “Khyala Hobe Dibas” as a show of respect to 16 people who had died in a stampede during a football match in Kolkata on this day in 1980. According to some BJP leaders, observing the “Khyala Hobe Dibas” on the anniversary of the Calcutta killings is uncalled for.
Others detained by the police from the protest meet were former Union minister Debasree Chowdhury, and another senior leader Meena Devi Purohit. According to reports, the BJP leaders were detained on grounds of hosting an event that violated COVID-19 norms.
