Stones were pelted at Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda’s convoy on Thursday, when it was on its way to Diamond Harbour area in the South 24 Parganas district of Bengal, from Calcutta.
Sources in the saffron party also alleged that BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s car was also totally ransacked in the attack.
Vehicles of media personnel, too, were not spared, the sources said.
“On our way to Diamond Harbour, TMC supporters blocked the road and pelted Naddaji's vehicle and other cars in the convoy with stones. This only shows the true colour of the TMC,” Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh told PTI.
Later, police intervened and ensured the convoy’s safe passage.
The saffron party, earlier in the day, alleged Trinamul Congress cadres of beating up its workers before Nadda’s visit at Diamond Harbour.
Banners of the saffron party were torn at the venue of Nadda's programme and some of its workers were also beaten up by the ruling TMC, the state BJP sources said.
“The rule of law has ceased to exist in Bengal. The opposition parties are not allowed to conduct their programmes. A jungle raj is going on in the state,” BJP national vice president Mukul Roy said.
Local leaders of the TMC denied the allegations, saying that these are “baseless” and “politically motivated”.
Ghosh also wrote a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, and alleged that a "mob" of over 200 people with sticks and bamboo were demonstrating raising black flags in front of BJP's state unit office in Calcutta. Following this, the ministry sought a report from the Bengal government on Thursday on the alleged "serious security lapses" during the BJP president's visit, the circumstances and what action has been taken on it, a home ministry official said.
“Today during his different engagement in Calcutta, it was observed that there were serious lapses on security arrangements, purportedly due to negligence and/or casual approach of the state police department,” he said in his letter.
He also claimed that some of the protesters climbed on cars parked outside the party's office and raised slogans, and the "police did not intervene to stop them and casually allowed them to come within a close perimeter of Nadda ji's vehicle".
