State BJP office gets CRPF cover, TMC protests

THE WEST Bengal government will lodge a protest with the Centre over the “unprecedented” deployment of central forces on Tuesday outside the BJP state office in Kolkata. It claimed that the Centre had overreached even as thesituationwasundercontrolof the state police.

After the arrest of TMC MP Sudipbandyopadhyay,amobhad surrounded the BJP office. Soon, both sides pelted stones at each other. Twelve people were injured in the incident. The central reserve police force (CRPF) was deployed outside the office.

As per a police officer, the Kolkata Police were taking steps tocontaintheviolence.barricades had been erected and once it becameclearthatprotesterswouldn’t leave, reinforcements were called in. A police officer said. “Why were the police there if the CRPF was to be deployed? And when they did arrive, why did they not do anything? Central forcescan’tdoanythingunlessthe state tells them to, since law and order is a state subject. So even their deployment is illegal.”

Bjpstatepresidentdilipghosh said the party had “informed national leaders” of the situation Tuesday and claimed that “the local police weren’t cooperating”. It was then that a request had been madetosendcentralforcesthere.

Sources in the CRPF said the personnel deployed were tasked withtheprotectionofformerstate Bjpchiefrahulsinha,whowasinside the building at that time.

TMC’S Partha Chatterjee said, “Howcancrpfbedeployedwithoutstatepermission?thisiscomplete disregard for federalism.”

Subham Dutta BJP state office in Kolkata on Wednesday.