West Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari visits DA protester’s platform, shows solidarity; TMC slams LoP

Kolkata: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday visited the protest platform of the Dearness Allowance (DA) protesters, who are on indefinite hunger strike, to show solidarity.

Adhikari said he will support the protesters if they organize “Nabanna Abhijaan” to protest on the issue. “If anyone touches the DA protesters, Bengal will burn,” Adhikari said.

Joint Forum convener Bhaskar Ghosh said, “At the moment we are not planning any “Nabanna March”. If we will do it to protest, we will organize it in an organized manner. No one will be able to stop me.” West Bengal government employees are fighting under the platform ‘Sangrami Joutho Manch’, a joint forum of 35 unions, to demand a hike in dearness allowance (DA). The protesters are agitating for a DA hike on par with central government employees.


Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress slammed Adhikari for his comments on “Bengal will burn”.

Trinamool spokesperson & state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “Adhikari went to the DA agitation today and made a statement saying "Bengal will burn." We suspect a deep-rooted conspiracy to disrupt peace in Bengal.”

“Suvendu's record shows he tried to disrupt peace multiple times - from organising a chaotic blanket distribution programme in Asansol killing three people to posting fake information on electricity maintenance to incite the public,” Ghosh alleged.

West Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya warned Adhikari against making statements which may threaten peace in the state. Bhattacharya said, “We want to know if it is appropriate for Opposition leaders to make such incendiary statements…By making such statements, he is conspiring to trigger anarchy in Bengal.”