Nabanna Abhijan: Police, protestors in pitched battle; BJP calls Bengal Bandh

J.P. Nadda, union minister and BJP president on extension, tweeted at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 August: 'The images of police highhandedness from Kolkata have angered every person who values democratic principles. In Didi's West Bengal, to help rapists and criminals is valued but it's a crime to speak for women's safety.'

Around the same time ABP Ananda, the Bengali news channel, reported that BJP had called for a 12-hour ‘Bangla Bandh’ from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, 28 August.

Large parts of central Kolkata remained closed due to traffic restrictions in view of the proposed march by ‘apolitical’ students to the seat of the state government — Nabanna building in Howrah — to demand the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee over unsafety of women, as instanced by the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar medical college and hospital on 9 August.

The police had not granted any organisation permission for this protest — since none had been sought, reportedly.

As such, the day witnessed massive police deployment in Howrah and central Kolkata and at the secretariat building in Nabanna itself.

Processions were expected to converge on the secretariat from Kolkata and Howrah, so the routes were barricaded. In some places, shipping containers became the barricade.

West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose in a video message reminded the state government of the stern message from the Supreme Court to allow peaceful protests.

Apprehension of violence kept most people away from central Kolkata after leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari, of the BJP, warned the state police against opening fire on peaceful protestors.

While there was no report of firing till 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, protestors and police did fight pitched battles at several places, with brickbats hurled at the police, who retaliated with water cannons and tear-gas shells.

Kolkata Police were also seen escorting the protestors in some parts of the city, notably near College Square.

A police bike was set on fire at Babughat.

Protestors clashed with the police near Eden Garden and on the approach to the Howrah Bridge as well.

One Trinamool Congress spokesperson described the march as being led by hoodlums and not students.

Meanwhile, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya seemed keen to amplify the protestors' position.

The ruling Trinamool Congress had claimed the march was sponsored by the BJP and the police had voiced its apprehension about protestors indulging in violence.

Many of the protestors did not appear to be students.

In the morning Adhikari posted on X that four 'students' were missing and accused the police of abducting and torturing them: 'The following student activists who were distributing food to the volunteers, who were arriving at Howrah Station, suddenly went missing after midnight... Neither they can be traced nor are they answering their phones. We apprehend that they may have been arrested/detained by the Mamata Police. If something happens to them, Mamata Police will be held accountable.'

West Bengal Police responded on its official X handle and said: 'A certain political leader has been trying to create a false narrative about four students who have apparently been missing since last night. The truth is, nobody is missing.

'The four were planning to orchestrate large-scale violence during the Nabanna Abhijan today, and were involved in a conspiracy of murder and attempted murder. They have been arrested in the Interest of public safety and security, and their families have been informed.'

There is little doubt that the BJP was heavily invested in the march to Nabanna today.

IT cell chief Amit Malviya, who was in charge of West Bengal during the last Lok Sabha election, kept up a steady stream of posts on the march since the morning. In one of the photographs he shared, a man in ochre robes is seen waving a tricolour defiantly as jets fired from water cannons fall all around him. 

'The man, waving a national flag, on the iconic Howrah bridge, amidst blazing water cannon, is the ultimate symbol of defiance against an oppressive Mamata Banerjee regime…,' posted Malviya.

The white-bearded gentleman did not appear to be a student, though.