Bengal police stop BJP leaders from taking bodies of workers to party office

Basirhat: Security forces on Sunday stopped BJP leaders here while they were taking the remains of the deceased workers to the party office following which they started raising slogans against the state government.

BJP general secretary Rahul Sinha said: "I have spoken to Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi, who has assured me that he will speak to senior officials. Police couldn't prevent the murders and are now stopping us from cremating the bodies."

"We have been stopped at three places. I have already assured that there will be no marches. We will peacefully take the bodies to the party office so that others can pay their tribute before their cremation at the designated place," said Sinha.

He also said that they are ready to proceed to the party office even in a police cordon, but stopping them like this was unacceptable.

"We are also ready to proceed further under police cordon. What kind of rule is this? Democracy is being strangulated in this state," added Sinha.

Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from Hooghly, has threatened that the last rites will be done on the roads if the police don't allow them to move forward.

"Families of the deceased want to take the bodies to the party office but the state police are stopping us. If the police don't allow us to move to the office with bodies, then the last rites will be performed on the road," she said.

Four workers of the BJP were shot dead by members of the TMC in Basirhat's Sandeshkhali area, BJP leader Mukul Roy has alleged.

The deaths took place on Saturday during a clash between workers of the two parties in the city of North 24 Parganas.

Violence broke out after TMC workers allegedly removed the flags with the BJP's 'lotus' symbol from a building here.