Kolkata: Following nationwide NEET protests and the resignation of former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Bengal BJP took out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Kolkata on Monday. The party claimed that the country’s youth and children were being misled and used as a shield to serve the political agenda of opposition parties. The party also said that anti-national forces would not be allowed to function from Bengal.The rally, in protest against the attack on journalists and alleged anti-national sentiments being spread “in the name of democratic student movement”, started from Sealdah and ended at Esplanade. Another rally was taken out from Golpark to Jadavpur’s 8B bus stand.“Left forces are free to protest. It is their democratic right. But serving any agenda under the garb of protest cannot be accepted. What happened on that day (Friday rally) cannot be termed as a students’ movement,” state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said in Delhi on Monday while adding that police will take action against anyone chanting “anti-national” slogans.Attacking the Left in Bengal, Bhattacharya said, “Those who have been rejected by the people and are irrelevant now have started agitating. They are trying to fish in troubled waters.”“The agitating students are happy now. A bill has already been introduced in Parliament and a task force has been formed. Students withdrew their agitation after welcoming the decision of the Centre,” he added.At Monday’s rally, BJP workers defaced posters of CPM, DYFI and SFI at Esplanade, only to be stopped by state commerce and industries minister Tapas Roy. “This is not a culture we support,” he said while removing the supporters from the spot.“We have seen how our PM and the Tricolour were demeaned. Parties will have to refrain from such politics. The anti-national culture was brought to Bengal by the Left and ultra-Left. They don’t want to obey the law,” Roy said.Present at the rally, state urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul said, “We respect the issues raised by the students. But the opposition is using them as a shield to serve their own political agenda. How can a rally against question leak raise slogans demanding restitution of Article 370? How can there be an issue of Kashmir ki aazaadi? It is clear that they are being misled and being used as pawns. We will not allow the country to become weak.”Meanwhile, at a programme in north Bengal, CM Suvendu Adhikari said a nationalist govt in Bengal would not allow the “divisive intentions” of “tukde-tukde gangs”.
