The Bengal BJP president and junior union minister Sukanta Majumdar was forced inside a police van on Friday afternoon and taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar.
Majumdar was on the way to meet UK-based Bengali physician Rajat Subhra Banerjee who had allegedly heckled Mamata Banerjee during her visit to London this March.
Majumdar and the BJP supporters had been involved in a cat-and-mouse game with the Kolkata Police throughout Friday. First, over observing June 20 as West Bengal diwas, followed by a scheduled meet with Rajat Subha Banerjee, which the Kolkata Police thwarted.
“I was waiting for Majumdar to arrive at my home. Later I heard that he had been stopped on the way and I stepped out to meet him,” said Rajat Subhra Banerjee, who shares a boundary wall with Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s private residence.
Both Majumdar and Banerjee were asked to get into the police vehicle and taken to the city police headquarters.
Later on Friday, Mazumdar wrote to Amit Shah, the union Home minister about the law and order situation in Bengal, citing the Kolkata Police's action against BJP workers on the way to Elgin Road. Mazumdar has also complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on his being heckled by Trinamool workers at Budge Budge on Thursday when he went to see an injured BJP worker.
TMC posted on their X account, "Imagine claiming that all a democratically elected woman Chief Minister cares about is country liquor. And worse still, this wasn’t said by a troll on the internet, but by an elected MP, a professor, no less. And let this be a reminder that Companies linked to the infamous “South Group” liquor cartel paid over ₹55 crore in electoral bonds to @BJP4India. Before pointing fingers at Smt. @mamataofficial, @BJP4Bengal State President @DrSukantaBJP should first demand the resignation of @JPNadda. Because what BJP is running is a SHARAB KA SARKAR."
In March, Mamata visited London and Oxford. She delivered a lecture at Kellogg College, where, Liverpool resident, Rajat Subhra had asked the chief minister to name one industry that came up in Bengal during her tenure. Mamata had said in her speech Bengal had received several thousand crores worth proposals for setting up industry.
The lecture had ended in chaos and security personnel from the Oxford University had to step in.
“I am not sure why the Kolkata Police is not allowing me to meet another city resident. This is not Mamata Banerjee’s police or Kolkata Police. This is the Bangladesh Police,” the state BJP president said.
Majumdar was on the way to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s residence on Elgin Road after paying tributes to Jana Sangha founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, when the motorcade was stopped. The BJP supporters blocked the road after the police action, while Majumdar proceeded on foot.
The Bengal BJP had announced the decision to observe June 20 as West Bengal diwas.
On this day in 1947, Mukherjee, who was a member of the government with the Muslim League, had voted against inclusion of the western part of Bengal into the proposed East Pakistan.
Mamata had said, the state recognises Poila Baisakh as West Bengal diwas.