Kolkata: Several people, including some policemen, were injured in a clash between supporters of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Dinhata town in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on Tuesday night, police said.
Udayan Guha, TMC’s Dinhata legislator and north Bengal development minister and Cooch Behar Lok Sabha member and Union minister of state for home Nisith Pramanik admitted that they were present during the clash. Both blamed each other for instigating violence.
This is the first clash between supporters of the rival parties in West Bengal since the announcement of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.
Several shops were damaged during the clash in which a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO sustained head injury while trying to disperse the workers of the two parties, an officer from the Dinhata police station said.
TMC announced that it will observe a 24-hour bandh at Dinhata from Wednesday morning. The ruling party also started an agitation outside Dinhata police station demanding Guha’s arrest.
The Election Commission of India sought a report on the incident, a district police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Nisith Pramanik, who won the Cooch Behar seat in 2019 for the BJP after leaving the TMC, was campaigning for himself. He told the media that his supporters were attacked by Udayan Guha’s followers without any provocation.
Pramanik said, “We were moving in a convoy that was stopped. I was compelled to get out of my car when I saw Guha asking his followers to beat up our workers. At a time when efforts are being made to conduct peaceful elections, Guha is inciting violence. Ever since the polls were announced, Guha has been telling the local business community that anyone supporting BJP will face the consequences.”
Countering the allegations, Guha said, “I was returning from an event our workers held to mark my birthday today. I was standing on the road when Pramanik’s convoy arrived. They shot arrows at us and started beating up our workers without any provocation.”
The local police deployed a huge force in the market area where the clash took place.
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