With Sunday’s incident in Kolkata when a group of men holding BJP flags were heard chanting ‘Desh desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro sa**** ko’ (shoot the traitors of the nation) on their way to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally at Shahid Minar, police on Monday claimed to have arrested three BJP supporters for allegedly raising the provocative slogans.
“This illegal act of passing provocative slogans was done by BJP supporters. It is a cognisable offence,” news agency PTI quoted senior official of the Kolkata Police as saying.
The police arrested Dhruva Basu, Pankaj Prasad, and Surendra Kumar Tewary, based on the complaint lodged by a person at the New Market Police Station on Sunday.
“They have been booked under four sections including two non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code. They will be produced at a city court today,” the IPS officer said.
The West Bengal BJP unit on Sunday came under fire after a group of people holding the party flag allegedly raised the incendiary “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro…” (shoot the traitors) slogan on their way to a rally of Shah.
The men shouted the slogan while they were passing the Maidan Market in Esplanade en route to the rally venue Shahid Minar ground.
The state BJP leadership, however, denied the involvement of any party worker in the incident and termed it as the “handiwork of the TMC (Trinamool Congress)”.
Home Minister Amit Shah was in in Kolkata on Sunday to launch the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal by taking out a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act rally in Kolkata amid protests against his presence.
Amit Shah kicked off the BJP’s campaign at a rally at Shahid Minar grounds for the municipal elections in April across West Bengal which can be seen as the first step towards the assembly polls of 2021.
The Left and the Congress sharply criticised the BJP for the slogan and demanded the Mamata Banerjee government take strong action” against those raising it, on Sunday.
“After the violence in Delhi, this slogan has now made its way to Kolkata. While no other party is being permitted to hold any meeting using microphones, an exception was made by the Mamata Banerjee government for Amit Shah. Now we find the BJP workers went to the extent of raising the ‘goli maro’ slogan in the heart of the city. The state government must identify those raising the slogan and take punitive action,” said Left Front legislature party leader and CPI-M lawmaker Sujon Chakraborty earlier.
Congress MLA Manoj Chakraborty said, “BJP is leading the country towards doom, They are raising this slogan even in Kolkata. Mamata Banerjee must see to it these people are arrested and sent to jail.”