The political situation in poll-bound West Bengal is turning ugly with three BJP workers arrested today for raising provocative slogans to incite violence. Three BJP activists including its Hooghly district youth wing chief Suresh Sahu have been arrested for allegedly raising ''desh ke gadaro ko goli maro saloon ko'' (shoot the traitors) slogan at a roadshow in Chandannagar area of Hooghly district, the police said. The slogans were raised at party leader Suvendu Adhikari’s rally.
Allegedly, some BJP workers had raised the slogan at a party program in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Wednesday, after which district police had registered a suo motu case and arrested them late at night, an officer said.
The police officer said that the 3 persons will be produced before the court today.
The BJP workers marching along the truck carrying Adhikari along with Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta had raised the provocative slogan in Rathtala area holding BJP flags and the Tricolour.
#WATCH | West Bengal: BJP supporters raise slogan -- 'desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalo ko" during a party rally in Chandannagar, Hooghly. pic.twitter.com/4P5zXv3kNs
— ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2021
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that the party does not endorse the slogan raised by the participants holding the BJP flag, adding that the slogan was pointed at those who are nation’s traitors "some of whom are in the Trinamool Congress", he said.
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He, however, has differentiated it with the one that happened on Tuesday during a South Kolkata Trinamool rally, where TMC workers targeted "Bengal's traitors" instead of "the nation's".
A similar incident occurred in March 2020, when 3 BJP supporters were held for raising the same slogan while heading for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata.