KOLKATA: Three persons have been arrested on Monday for allegedly shouting 'desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro…' slogan while heading towards Amit Shah’s rally venue near Esplanade yesterday.
The three accused, identified as Dhruba Basu, Pankaj Prasad and Surendra Kumar Tiwari, are members of BJP’s lawyers’ cell, according to the police.
Bengal chief minister condemned the slogan on Monday. "The slogan is incendiary, provocative and illegal. Lawful action will be taken against all those who raised the slogan. It is Kolkata, not Delhi. If we spare a single person, others will be encouraged. Police have already arrested three persons. Others will also be identified,’’ she said while addressing party workers at Netaji Indoor Stadium.
Hitting out at the BJP, Mamata said, "Those who talk about Bengal’s law and order, tell my why the BJP leader who created the provocation before Delhi violence has not been booked and arrested. They did it here yesterday and police arrested them today.’’
A group of BJP supporters en route to Shah’s rally shouted the slogan at Esplanade where a group of Left-leaning students assembled to stage a demonstration against the Union Home minister’s Kolkata visit.
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"Police registered an FIR with New Market police station. They procured video footages of the BJP’s march and identified the three accused. Raids were conducted in the wee hours and we arrested the trio,’’ said a police officer.
The three accused were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 (indulge in wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion), 505 (incite or which is likely to incite any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) and 34 (common intention).
The BJP has drawn flak since Delhi Assembly elections for use of the slogan at party’s meeting and Union minister Anurag Thakur was heard egging a crowd to raise the slogan.
Shah, during the course of his speech, had said that BJP would turn West Bengal into "Sonar Bangla" if given an opportunity by the people of the state. He asked people to counter Mamata Banerjee's slogan "Didi Ke Bolo" by saying "Aar Noi Anyay" (no more injustice).
"Give BJP five years and we will make the state 'Sonar Bangla'," Shah said while addressing the public meeting at Shahid Minar.
The Union Home Minister also claimed that BJP would form the next government in the state.
"The BJP will form a government with a two-thirds majority in the next Assembly elections in West Bengal in 2021. In the 2019 general elections, BJP got 2 crore 30 lakh votes as compared to 87 lakh votes that it got in 2014. Due to the blessings of the people of Bengal, BJP crossed the 300 mark in 2019," he added.