Senior BJP leader Locket Chatterjee on Thursday sat on demonstration after the police stopped her from visiting her Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency to attend Hanuman Jayanti celebrations, citing law and order situation following clashes between two groups during Ram Navami celebrations earlier this week.

She was seen reading Hanuman Chalisa while sitting on the road.

Chatterjee was on her way to Bansberia in Hooghly district when the police stopped her convoy and requested her to return, claiming that her visit might incite tension in the trouble-torn area.

She said, "The police stopped me though I am the local MP. I was invited to attend the Hanuman Jayanti programme there. But the police are asking me to go back. Why is an elected representative stopped from visiting her constituency?” The BJP leader told reporters that she informed the governor about the incident and he had said he would look into it.

The MP and BJP workers started demonstrating in the area after being stopped and alleged that she was called an "outsider by the police". She also started reading Hanuman Chalisa.

Police officials were seen requesting Chatterjee to return and come back some other day when the situation normalised.

The ruling Trinamool Congress criticised Chatterjee for trying to disturb the peace in the trouble-torn area.

"The BJP is trying to disrupt peace and communal harmony in the state. When the police have restored peace, why is the BJP trying to foment trouble? At the cost of peace, the BJP wants to get votes," TMC state vice-president Jaiprakash Majumdar said.

Prohibitory orders were imposed in Hooghly and Howrah districts, where clashes broke out between two groups when processions were taken out to celebrate Ram Navami.

Following a Calcutta High Court order, central police forces were deployed in parts of Kolkata, Hooghly and Barrackpore on Thursday to assist the state police in maintaining the law and order situation in view of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. PTI PNT NN

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