BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Assembly gherao protest of Congress, the first big show under newly-appointed state chief Bhakta Charan Das, turned violent as party activists clashed with police, leaving 15 cops and many protesters injured here on Thursday.
For an hour, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, the road leading to the state Assembly, turned into a battlefield as hundreds of Congress workers resorted to stone pelting and hurled chairs after breaking the security barricades prompting a baton-charge by a huge posse of policemen.
Police used water cannons before firing teargas shells to disperse the agitators who were making an attempt to scale the barricades and proceed towards the Assembly which is currently in session. With the situation getting chaotic, police took the Pradesh Congress Committee president Das, state-in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu, MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Md Moquim into preventive custody. All of them were later released.
The Congress had earlier given the protest call seeking constitution of a House Committee to investigate growing crimes against women under the BJP government. Fourteen of its MLAs were also suspended from the Assembly for their alleged unruly behaviour on the floor of the House over the same demand.
Earlier in the day, a massive rally taken out from Ram Mandir Square converged at Lower PMG Square where a public meeting was held. At about 12.45 pm, the party workers tried to break the barricades prompting the police to resort to baton-charge. After an hour of violent protest, the police managed to vacate the area.
Director general of police YB Khurania, who visited the Capital Hospital, to meet the injured policemen said the perpetrators of violence will not be spared and put behind the bars. Additional CP Narasingha Bhol said 15 police personnel were injured in stone pelting by the protesters and four of them were critical. Some mediapersons were also injured in the incident.
Congress leaders claimed over a dozen of their workers also sustained injuries in the police lathi-charge. Pradesh Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das asserted that outsiders, and not Congress party activists, were responsible for the stone pelting.
Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said a case will be registered and action will be initiated those responsible for the violence. An attempt was made by the protesters to set a police vehicle on fire but the cops managed to thwart it, he added.
The Congress termed the Assembly gherao programme successful. Party’s national general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed Congress is emerging as the main opposition in the state.
“It is after a long time that the Odisha Police is providing a traffic advisory due to a Congress dharna in Bhubaneswar tomorrow. It is increasingly clear that @INCOdisha has become the main opposition party in Odisha,” his post on X said.
