Video | Clashes during BJP's Nabanna march, supporters use boat to reach secretariat
Security arrangements were beefed up in Kolkata with heavy barricading at Hastings near the state government's new Secretariat.
BJP supporters from across West Bengal arrived in Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah on Tuesday to take part in the saffron party's 'Nabanna Abhijan' (march to secretariat)- one of the party’s biggest campaigns since its 2021 poll defeat - to protest against alleged corrupt practices of the Trinamool Congress government. A group of BJP workers were also seen using a boat to cross Tribeni river, Hooghly, to reach Nabanna as barricades have also been placed on the Second Hooghly Bridge, which connects the metropolis with the state secretariat building.
The BJP had booked three trains from north Bengal and four trains from south Bengal to bring party members and supporters from across the state to the capital and Howrah for the march. However, the buses carrying the workers, on their way to Kolkata to participate in the march, were stopped by the police in North 24 Parganas.
Earlier in the day, a clash broke out between BJP workers and Police outside the Raniganj railway station as workers left for Kolkata to take part in the protest.
Security arrangements were beefed up in Kolkata with heavy barricading at Hastings near the state government's new Secretariat. Traffic restrictions have been put in place along several key stretches of the city, reported PTI quoting police.
"With hundreds of BJP workers heading towards Kolkata to join BJP's Nabanna march via trains, police barricaded paths to railway stations. 20 of our workers were stopped by police near Durgapur railway station. I reached here using other paths," BJP leader Abhijit Dutta was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The Kolkata Police also detained the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari and MP Locket Chatterjee while they were trying to visit Santragachi. State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar was also arrested.