BJP, TMC engage in pitched battles in Kolkata for Vivekananda’s legacy

KOLKATA: The streets of north and central Kolkata turned into war zones on Friday as the supporters of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP clashed to claim Swami Vivekananda’s legacy on his 155th birth anniversary.

They clashed at least four times, less than 500 metres away from the spiritual leader’s ancestral home. The clashes cast a shadow on the already fraught relationship between the BJP-led Centre and Trinamool-led West Bengal, prompting the state BJP to demand President’s rule and Union minister Nitin Gadkari to cancel his visit to the Mamata government’s ‘Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS)’, which starts next Tuesday.

A special officer of the Calcutta high court, Rabi Shankar Datta, submitted in court that his car was vandalised during the clashes and he sustained minor injuries. The HC had appointed Datta to oversee a motorbike rally by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). The court directed the BJP youth wing to suspend its programme for two days. BJYM had planned its Pratirodh Sankalpa Abhiyan to coincide with Vivekananda’s birth anniversary.


BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh called off the programme and staged a dharna. He said, “We started the rally with the court’s go-ahead but the ruling party did not pay heed to the court order. The state government does not deserve any courtesy or cooperation from the Centre. Union minister Gadkari will not be coming for the BGBS.”

Trinamool minister Partha Chatterjee called the BJP’s “hullabaloo” a desperate bid to hit the headlines.