The BJP laid siege to police stations at various locations across the state on Friday to increase pressure on the Trinamul Congress and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the junior doctor's rape and murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The blockades in front of the police stations come in the middle of the BJP's five-day dharna at Shyambazar. On Thursday, BJP leaders and workers marched to Swastha Bhavan, the headquarters of the state health department, in Salt Lake.
All these programmes were part of the BJP's movement against the Mamata Banerjee government in the wake of the junior doctor's murder.
Speaking on the occasion, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who was at the dharna site along with leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, former state president Rahul Sinha and party MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay, said: “We demand the chief minister's resignation. The intensity of the movement will escalate as we take to the streets to protest the chilling incident at RG Kar."
"Police obstructed us during the peaceful march to Swastha Bhavan on Thursday and in protest, the BJP held demonstrations in front of all police stations in Calcutta and across the state today (Friday). We will continue our movement against the ongoing incidents of violence against women, murders, rapes, anarchy and disorder in the state,” Majumdar added.
Several top leaders, including Dilip in Midnapore's Sipai Bazar, Roopa Ganguly at Behala in Calcutta, Suvendu Adhikari in Panihati and Arjun Singh in Barrackpore, participated in the blockades.
“The health department has become a hotbed of anarchy and the rape and the murder was a fallout of that corruption. We want the CBI to go into the source of all the corruption and find the real culprits. Till the real perpetrators of the crime are arrested, we will continue with our movement,” the former MP of Barrackpore Arjun Singh said.
In some places, BJP supporters broke through barricades and entered police stations, including in Nandigram and Jalpaiguri. But according to the police, the supporters did not resort to violence and left peacefully after entering.
“We wanted to conduct a peaceful movement and so there was strict instruction that supporters should not resort to violence unless the police provoked them to do so. We must admit that the police showed restraint in controlling the protestors,” a senior BJP leader said.
The BJP movement intensified after central leaders urged the state leadership to actively engage with the public, emphasising unity over differences, a directive reflected in the past two days as top state BJP leaders united in their fight against the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Political observers believe the BJP has always focused on the state's law and order and during the last Lok Sabha election, the entire saffron camp vocally accused the ruling party and government of widespread corruption and misconduct, including allegations of mass rape and corruption in Sandeshkhali.