Supporters of the Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) and Left student outfits, primarily the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), clashed at several places across Bengal during a daylong student strike on Monday called by the SFI to demand the resignation and arrest of education minister Bratya Basu for allegedly trying to run over protesting students at Jadavpur University on Saturday.
Supporters of the strike against the minister’s alleged actions were reportedly attacked by ruling party activists. An SFI leader said that in several places their supporters were publicly slapped, punched and kicked by TMCP members.
SFI state committee secretary Debanjan De accused the police of teaming up with TMC “goons” to assault Left activists and muzzle the movement.
“The state government is afraid and has resorted to using police and Trinamool goons to disrupt the students’ protest. It is clear they are trying to shield Bratya Basu, but their efforts will not succeed,” he said.
The catalyst for the unrest was Saturday’s incident at Jadavpur University, where three students were injured when Basu allegedly tried to drive through a barricade of protesting students. The students tried stopping the minister from leaving and demanded that student polls be announced. Basu, in turn, claimed his car’s windshield was damaged by protesters and that he suffered injuries.
In Siliguri, TMCP members clashed with AIDSO workers when the Left-wing activists allegedly attempted to stop a college bus heading for North Bengal University (NBU). AIDSO members denied the charge, claiming TMCP supporters attacked them.
The strike impacted Siliguri’s NBU, where SFI members staged a protest at the campus gate. A clash with TMCP members ensued, with several SFI members getting injured, a police source said.
“One of our supporters was hit in the face. He bled profusely,” said an SFI leader.
In Cooch Behar, district AIDSO secretary Asif Alam and other members were allegedly assaulted by TMCP supporters at Jenkins More. AIDSO sources said their members were peacefully standing outside Jenkins School when they were attacked by TMCP activists.
The TMCP denied it and accused the AIDSO protesters of attempting to disrupt the HS exam. The situation was brought under control after police intervened.
An injured Alam said: “We were not disrupting the higher secondary (HS) exams, but Trinamool members deliberately attacked us.”
Similar clashes were reported in Midnapore town, Panskura, and several other locations in West Midnapore district.
At the Panskura Banamali College, AIDSO activists supporting the strike were beaten by TMCP supporters.
At Midnapore College, tension flared up when TMCP members allegedly attacked SFI activists protesting at Gate No. 1. The SFI members were beaten up, dragged out of the campus and handed over to the police.
SFI leaders later accused the police of entering the campus without permission, apparently to unleash panic. They alleged that the attack was orchestrated by TMCP district chief Rabindranath Ghosh, an outsider on this campus, in which many SFI members got injured.
Ghosh denied the charge and blamed the SFI for the unrest.
The unrest extended to Vidyasagar University, around 5km away from the college, where police intervened to prevent DSO activists from protesting in front of gate 1. Police were seen dragging out demonstrators, including female protesters, into
police vans.
In Bhatar, members of SFI and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), led by the DYFI East Burdwan district committee member, Sheikh Saddam, and the district secretary, Subhasish Mitra, held a protest march and put up a blockade near Bhatar Bazar. Tensions escalated further when the police attempted to stop them from burning Basu’s effigy.
