Enter, sloganeering in Metro.
A group of over 100 people, flaunting saffron robes and carrying posters and a loudhailer, took a Metro ride between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade on Friday.
At a gathering outside the station and throughout the journey, they chanted slogans such as “Narendra Modi zindabad”, “Modiji ko Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. One of them carried a loudhailer and used it freely inside the station.
Metro has been a trusted transporter for rally-goers in the north-south corridor. But turning a Metro station into a political stage is new.
The audio system on the train kept playing the “Viksit Bharat (Developed India)” campaign song on loop.
Around 10.20am, the assembly outside the Howrah Maidan station narrowed the entrance. A policeman stood and watched. “What is this? Is Metro for party cadres,” a woman who was in a hurry asked the cop. Prodded into action, he started nudging the group members to make way for passengers.
“It is election season. What can I do?” the cop said when this correspondent asked him about the assembly.
Metro and RPF personnel at the Howrah Maidan station tried to reason with the group, which was led by the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Howrah, Rathin Chakraborty.
An RPF officer and several Metro officials were heard telling the group’s leaders that a Metro station “was not the place for a rally”. The group, however, prevailed over the Metro personnel.
The RPF officer declined comment when this newspaper approached him.
A Metro official at Howrah Maidan said: “All of them had tickets. You can talk sense into one or two individuals. But can you talk sense into such a large group?”
Metro sources said the build-up for the rally was visible since morning. “Cops had a discussion with the organisers. They had promised not to bring posters or placards inside. But they came in with loudhailers as well,” said another official.
The group entered the platform and then boarded a train to Esplanade. Throughout the ride, the sloganeering continued. It peaked as the train entered the stretch under the Hooghly. “Hooghly bole Jai Shri Ram, Hooghly bole Modiji,” shouted some of them.
“Today is a historic day. Two iconic cities have been linked. The main person who made this feat possible is Narendra Modi,” Chakraborty.
Umesh Rai, a state secretary of the BJP, denied that Friday’s programme was political.
Approached for a comment, Metro general manager P. Uday Kumar Reddy said he was “out of the station and would not be able to comment”.
