KOLKATA: The dawn-to-dusk West Bengal Bandh called by the Congress on Tuesday to protest against the murder of one of its students’ wing members by alleged TMC goons, was marred by violence, with untoward incidents being reported from across the state.
And several districts, mainly in North Bengal, witnessed clashes between the Congress and the TMC workers. The bandh supporters vandalised public property and damaged vehicles in North Dinajpur, Alipurduar, Malda and Murshidabad districts. The shutter-down protest also had its share of drama when state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury MP in an unprecedented act took off his shirt and dared the police to open fire on him.“We are protesting peacefully, but the police are beating up our workers without any provocation. We are not forcing anyone to stay away from office. I challenge them to open fire on unarmed Congress workers,” the WBPCC chief told the police personnel present there. Reacting to the incident Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said sarcastically, “I saw on TV that someone tried to copy (former India skipper) Saurav Ganguly for the sake of photographs and took off his shirt. Taking it off once for photographs and TV cameras is fine, but if one does it frequently, he will soon himself become a photograph.”