BJP says will send 10 lakh 'Jai Shri Ram' postcards to Mamata
Kolkata, Jun 1: The BJP will send 10 lakh postcards with "Jai Shri Ram" written on them to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a party leader said Saturday, in a move likely to add salt to the ruling TMC's wounds after a bruising performance in Lok Sabha polls.
"We have decided to send 10 lakh postcards with 'Jai Shri Ram' written on them to the chief minister's residence," newly elected lawmaker Arjun Singh said.
Singh, a former Trinamool Congress MLA who joined the BJP before the general election, said this after police lathicharged a group of saffron party workers who were chanting "Jai Shri Ram" during a demonstration outside a property where TMC leaders were holding a meeting.
TMC leaders had assembled in Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas district to chalk out a strategy to retake party offices taken over allegedly by BJP workers, Trinamool sources said.
Kanchrapara comes under Singh's Barrackpore parliamentary constituency.
TMC leader and state minister Jyotipriya Mallick claimed Singh and Subhrangshu Roy, BJP leader Mukul Roy's son who quit TMC and joined the saffron party on Tuesday, had conspired to incite trouble in the area.
Police sources said those gathered outside the meeting venue raised slogans and alleged that the presence of Mallick and other TMC leaders like Madan Mitra, Tapas Roy and Sujit Bose was detrimental to peace in the area.
Police and Rapid Action Force personnel first tried to persuade the protesters but later restored to lathicharge when the situation started to slip out of their hands, the sources said.
"This is unprecedented. We had not seen this culture in Bengal. This is the culture of the BJP," Mallick said.
Singh denied the allegation.
"The TMC leaders are talking nonsense. People rejected the TMC and this is their reaction," he said.
In the just-concluded election, BJP emerged as a political force in Bengal and won 18 seats out of the total 42. Since then, TMC leaders have been switching over to the saffron party.
Asked if TMC will file a police complaint over the protest, Mallick said his party will deal with it politically. The state minister also alleged that the protesters tried to attack his car.
A police officer said shops and markets were shut down as tension prevailed there.
"No one was arrested but a police picket has been set up. We are taking all measures so that peace is not distributed in the area," he said.
On Friday, the West Bengal BJP hit out at Banerjee for losing her temper when a group of men shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' in front of her car. It asked whether it is a crime to chant the phrase in the state.
On Thursday, Banerjee had lost her cool when some men shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' as her motorcade passed through Bhatpara area under Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency.
Earlier this month in West Midnapore district, a video showed Banerjee getting angry when some men chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' at her motorcade.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
