Darjeeling: Mob chases BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, thrashes colleagues

The state Bhartiya Janata Party president Dilip Ghosh was chased while his colleagues were thrashed by the mob in Darjeeling on Thursday. Seeing the angry, Ghosh had to call off a Bijaya Sammilani meeting inside an auditorium.

The mob wielded black flag and chased the BJP delegation around the town.

This was the second attack on a big leader in a span of four month. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha protesters lobbed bombs and pelted stones during a Bengal cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling on June 8.

Ghosh told reporters, “All of a sudden they rushed to the dais and heckled everybody including me. I tried to pacify them but they kept shouting slogans and pushing others. I left the venue and walked to the nearby police station.”

He said, “On the way my party supporters, who were with me, were brutally beaten up by the agitators.”

Darjeeling Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Chaturvedi said, “There was scuffle between two groups and a few people were injured. A case has been registered and we have started the investigation. The culprits will be arrested soon.”

Rallies were taken out by the BJP in Kolkata as well as in Hoogly, Burdwan and several other places in the state to protest against the heckling of Ghosh. The party demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

With PTI inputs