BJP workers and supporters in Cooch Behar district on Thursday morning accused the Border Security Force, which reports to the Union home ministry, of highhandedness and staged a road blockade for four hours in protest.

In recent years, this is the first time that the BJP, usually appreciative of the central paramilitary force that guards the India-Bangladesh border, has levelled such charges against it anywhere in north Bengal.

The anger stems from the alleged detention by the BSF on Wednesday of a homemaker with two calves that her parents had gifted her.

On Wednesday afternoon, Dipti Roy Dakua, 31, of 101 Fulkadabri village in Mekhliganj block near the India-Bangladesh border, was returning from her parents’ home in the neighbouring 661 Doradabri village with her child and two calves which her parents had gifted to her, said Dayal Roy, a BJP leader of 101 Fulkadabri.

Dipti hired two e-rickshaws to carry the calves and was on her way to her in-laws’ place.

En route, the BSF personnel posted at Arjun, a border outpost in Kuchlibari of Mekhliganj, intercepted the vehicles.

After around two hours, Shibu Barman, the panchayat member of Dipti’s locality,
got to know she had been detained with the calves and the vehicles.

Barman contacted Anima Roy, Dayal’s wife and the head of Bagdogra-Fulkadabri panchayat. Anima, along with six other BJP members of her panchayat, went to the border outpost and asked the BSF personnel to release Dipti and the calves.

“We said the homemaker had a certificate issued by the head of the panchayat of her parent’s place, which says her family has gifted the calves to her. Still, the BSF officials didn’t listen to us and misbehaved with us. In fact, one of them threatened to shoot at us if we didn’t leave,” said Anima.

After around three hours, the BSF allowed Dipti to take the calves away.

“But she was told she couldn’t take the calves to her in-laws’ place and had to return the animals to her parents,” said a source.

Around 9am on Thursday, around 100 BJP supporters led by Anima, Dayal and elected BJP members of the panchayat raised a blockade in Kangratali on the Mekhliganj-Dhapra Road.

“The BSF can’t control cattle smuggling but is proactive in harassing border villagers. It is disappointing they don’t know about the common gifting practice of villagers. In our areas, calves are often gifted to daughters after marriage,” said Sumitra Roy, a BJP panchayat member.

Traffic halted on the route. Officials from the block administration and Kuchlibari police spoke to protesters.

“We want in writing from the BDO that in future, the BSF will not stop villagers carrying gifts of cattle with proper certificates,” said Anima.

Eventually, around 3pm, the blockade lifted.

At the rural polls held in July, the BJP bagged the Bagdogra-Fulkadabri panchayat of Mekhliganj block. Out of 13 seats, BJP won seven seats, Trinamul five and an Independent one seat.

Over the past few years, Trinamul leaders, including chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, have accused the BSF of harassing residents of border villages.

Rabindranath Ghosh, a Trinamul state vice-president from Cooch Behar, said their charges were proved right.

“The chief minister and our party leader Abhishek Banerjee have shown the ground reality of the borders. People who live close to the border face such harassment and in some cases even lose their lives. The BJP was critical of us so far, but these protests (on Thursday) endorsed what we have been saying so far,” said Ghosh.

District BJP leaders played safe.

“We always respect the BSF as they guard our borders. It seems there was a misunderstanding. The BSF should also give due importance to elected representatives, “said Nikhil Ranjan Dey, the BJP MLA of Cooch Behar South.

A BSF officer said: “We need to check what has exactly happened.”