KOLKATA: After facing backlash for the vandalisation of Vidyasagar’s bust, the BJP leadership will deploy about 200 workers near the statues of Bengal icons to avoid a repeat of the May incident during Monday’s mega procession in Kolkata.
Eighty-five walkie-talkies will be given to the workers guarding the statues and those at the control room at the BJP headquarters.
The decision of guarding the statues was taken after ‘learning’ from the previous event in which Vidyasagar’s bust was vandalised during Home Minister Amit Shah’s roadshow along College Street, said Raju Banerjee, BJP’s general secretary in West Bengal.
“A group of TMC workers were responsible for the vandalism. So, we are taking precautionary measures to prevent such conspiracy to malign our party. Our workers will be present in front of all the statues along the route. If they spot any suspicious activity, they will alert the control room and our men will rush out to protect the statues,’’ he said.
Bengal BJP will take out the Abhinandan Yatra, which will host party’s working president J P Nadda.
The party is organising the mega march to welcome the CAA and congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, no major incident of violence was reported on Sunday during anti-CAA protests in Bengal. Rallies were held by different political parties and an Islamic organisation in and around Kolkata.
A scuffle between BJP workers and the police broke out when the law enforcers intercepted the saffron party’s procession supporting the CAA at Uttarpara in Hooghly district.
Later, the BJP workers set up a roadblock on GT Road.