A scuffle broke out between ISF activists and police personnel during a demonstration by the party in Kolkata on Wednesday to protest against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls and alleged harassment of migrants from West Bengal in several BJP-ruled states.
The city police detained lone ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique and several other party workers, and used "minimum force" to disperse the agitators, a senior officer said.
Led by Siddique, hundreds of ISF workers, holding the national flags, demonstrated at the Y Channel in the Esplanade area in central Kolkata, blocking vehicular movement and scuffling with the police, she said.
"We were peacefully protesting against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, the continued harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants from West Bengal and the conspiracy to delete names of Indian citizens by the Election Commission through SIR.
"We had sought prior permission to hold the protest. But CM Mamata Banerjee's administration is showing its dual face by not allowing us to hold the protest for a brief period," the ISF legislator claimed.
Siddique, who represents the Bhangar assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, was speaking to reporters before being taken to the Jorasankho Police Station.
"This shows that the TMC government is not sensitive to the issues faced by the common people and not serious about addressing the threats to migrants, the minorities and carrying on the fight against the anti-people, and anti-Muslim attitude of the central government," the ISF leader claimed.
Kolkata Police DC (Central) Indira Mukherjee told reporters, "We had to use minimum force to lift the blockade by the ISF to facilitate movement of traffic in the busy thoroughfare." She said there was no report of injury to anyone.
The demonstration disrupted vehicular movement in the area for about an hour before normalcy was restored.
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