Team News Riveting
Kolkata, January 21
Violence erupted in Central Kolkata as Indian Secular Front (ISF) activists fought a pitched battle with the police at South 24 Parganas district and Esplanade area on Saturday during a protest against alleged attacks on their workers by the ruling Trinamul Congress in South 24 Parganas district.
The ISF is a political party floated in West Bengal by Abbas Siddiqui, an influential cleric of the shrine of Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district. Siddiqui Furfura formed the party in the run up to the state assembly polls 2021 holding Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) responsible for “corruption and underdevelopment of Muslims”.
The trouble began when supporters of the ISF had gathered today morning at Bhangar for a rally in Kolkata to observe the foundation day of the party. Clashes broke out between Trinamool Congress led by Arabul Islam and ISF activists. The ISF supporters led by its MLA Naushad Siddique arrived at the rally venue.
Siddique and the ISF supporters held demonstrations demanding the arrest of Arabul Islam. They threw the traffic out of gear around the key Jawarharlal Nehru Road crossing. The sole ISF MLA Naushad Siddique, who was leading the protest, was detained along with 16 others, as a number of police personnel and agitators were injured.
A senior police official said the activists blocked an arterial road in the heart of the city. The cops requested them to clear Jawaharlal Nehru Road and allow traffic movement. However, the workers of the party refused to vacate the road demanding that the perpetrators behind the attacks on its activists at Bhangar be arrested first.
The verbal engagement took an ugly twist as police baton-charged the workers and lobbed tear gas shells. The demonstrators numbering around 500 retreated and pelted the cops with stones from nearby lanes, injuring several police personnel.
The clashes started at 4.45 pm and went on till about 5.30 pm. It was only after the reinforcement and contingent of Rapid Action Force (RAF) reached the spot, police were able to restore some sort of order.
Commuters, who were hiding in shops with their shutters down, came out raising their hands.
