A ruckus broke out at the mega rally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district on Friday. Stones were hurled, barricades were breached and agitated supporters shouted slogans directed at the party leadership.
The meeting, where senior BJP leaders Kaliash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh, Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari were present had to be hurriedly called off. The meeting was a show of strength of BJP leadership particularly former Trinamool Congress Minister and Nandigram strongman Suvendu Adhikari who joined BJP last month.
The BJP leadership blamed the Trinamool Congress for inciting trouble at the rally by throwing stones. Mr Adhikari said that he had never faced such a situation in his political career and said that even the supporters of Communist Party of India (Marxist) never disrupted any public meetings of the Trinamool Congress. The people who had raised slogans said that their anger was about the possibility of other Trinamool leaders joining the BJP. The State unit of the BJP has been facing dissent and sometimes protests with the Trinamool leaders joining the party.
Another highlight of the rally was the presence of family members of those killed in police firing in Nandigram in March 2007. 14 persons were killed in the police firing when the Nandigram had turned violent during agitation forcible land acquisition.
“ I will thank the members of martyr families who joined us today. Out of 41 families 30 families have come to the BJP stage today,” Mr Adhikari said. He also spoke about the contribution of BJP leaders particularly Lal Krishna Advani to the Nandigram movement. TMC was an ally of the BJP in 2007 and a BJP delegation comprising senior leaders had visited Nandigram after the police firing. The BJP leadership also accused the Trinamool Congress of betraying the National Democratic Alliance ( NDA).
Speaking at the venue Mr Vijayvargiya said that none of the police officers responsible for firing in Nandigram are not behind bars. The BJP leaders said that while one officer has joined the TMC after retirement another officer is closely working with the Chief Minister.
The Trinamool Congress leadership, which has challenged Mr Adhikari to seek a reelection from the Nandigram Assembly seat after he switched sides, will hold a public meeting in Nandigram on January 18.
