TMC stages protest over fuel price hike; BJP marches condemning Birbhum violence

Activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP on Tuesday hit the streets of Kolkata to protest against fuel price hike and the "worsening" law and order situation in the state respectively. Members of the youth and student wings of the TMC shouted slogans against the central government for the escalation in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, while the saffron party workers slammed the TMC for the Birbhum carnage in which nine people were burnt to death.

"Soon after Assembly polls were held in five states, the BJP government at the Centre effected rise in fuel prices several times. This has put people under serious stress. Our rally is against this anti-people BJP government at the Centre," Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said. The rally started at Hazra crossing in Kalighat area of South Kolkata and ended at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the central part of the city.

The rallyists also shouted slogans against the alleged conspiracy by the BJP to stop the "fair and impartial" SIT probe into the death of student leader Anis Khan at Amta in Howrah district. Khan's family members alleged that four people had come to their house on the night of February 18 donning police and civic volunteer uniform and pushed him off the second floor of their house leading to his death. They have demanded a CBI investigation into the matter.

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BJP leader Indranil Khan led a rally from the party's state committee office on Muralidhar Lane to New Market area in central Kolkata. "The murder of student leader Anis Khan and the burning down of nine people, mostly women and children, have exposed the TMC's criminal characteristics," BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters.

On the night of March 21, eight people were burnt to death after a number of houses in Bogtui village of Birbhum district were set on fire by unknown miscreants, in a suspected fallout of the murder of a local TMC leader. One injured woman died on Monday, raising the toll to nine.

"Since May 2 last year, 55 of our party functionaries have been killed by Trinamool goons. Our MLAs were beaten up in the Assembly. We have taken out the rally in protest against these violent incidents," Majumdar said. Legislators of the TMC and the BJP came to blows inside the Assembly on Tuesday after heated arguments over the Birbhum killings. The saffron party alleged that the police, at the instruction of the ruling party, did not allow the rallyists to stage protests in New Market area.

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