Kolkata: The Esplanade area of Central Kolkata on Saturday afternoon resembled a battleground as the supporters of Indian Secular Front, a political party formed by influential cleric Abbas Siddique just before the 2021 assembly polls, and police locked horns against each other. The city came to a grinding halt because of the incident.
The heart of the city came to a grinding halt as supporters attacked police with bamboo sticks and rods, and threw stones, and sandals forcing the cops to retaliate. They chased the supporters with sticks and broke teargas to disperse the crowd, leading to the injury of several persons from both sides. ISF leader and MLA from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas Noushad Siddique was detained and dragged into the police van.
“Nothing would have happened if the police were active and did their duty properly. We had a programme at Esplanade today and it was prescheduled. We were bringing our supporters to the city in a peaceful manner from Bhangar but Trinamool Congress supporters attacked us. We complained but the police did nothing. They tore our flags and heckled our supporters,” Siddique said.
The series of events that cascaded into the clash began in the morning when there were clashes between ISF and Trinamool Congress after the former allegedly came under attack in Bhangar area of South 24 Parganas. Though ISF claimed that the ruling party was obstructing them from going to the programme, TMC leaders denied the allegation. Several people were injured in the clash and they had to be admitted to the hospital. Police from the Leather Complex police station cordoned off the entire area.
The ripples of tension reached Esplanade when the ISF supporters went for a sit-in demonstration blocking the roads and choking the entire transport system of the city. When police tried to remove the crowd, supporters of ISF allegedly attacked the police leading to indiscriminate lathicharge by the cops.
Noushad Siddique who was arrested for ‘trying to create disturbance’ claimed that many of their supporters were injured and they had to be hospitalised. Police on the other hand said that the mob attacked cops without any indulgence. “They were predetermined to create a disturbance. In an effort to disperse the unruly crowd, we had to indulge in lathicharge and break teargas. We have arrested some people also,” a senior police officer said.
Criticising the attack on the ISF supporters by the police, BJP Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said, “We strongly condemn the attack. Though I am not politically affiliated to the political ideology of ISF, everyone should have the right to express their opinion”. Referring to Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, the BJP leader said, “In this state, there will be only nephew and aunt and the state will run at their whims and fancies”.
