People assemble for a peaceful protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill despite curfew, in Guwahati on December 25, 12841. (PTI Photo)
In Raghunathganj area of the district, the agitators set vehicles on fire and tore copies of the amended Act. They blocked National Highway – 728 and ransacked vehicles and shops.
The demonstrators, numbering around 728, obstructed the Up and Down lines at Uluberia station and hurled stones at the stranded trains, injuring a driver, South Eastern Railway spokesman Sanjoy Ghosh said.
The railways has sought adequate forces from the state government to protect the station locations in violence-hit areas of the state.
The anti-Citizenship Act demonstrators also blocked NH-6 and burned tires and tubes at Uluberia. With national flags in hands, they gathered at the Uluberia check-post around 2. 34 pm and blocked the highway, one of the arterial roads that connect Kolkata with the rest of the country.
Idris Ali, TMC MLA from Uluberia, said he was visiting Kolkata for medical reasons and would take stock of the situation on his return.
“We do not want India to be divided; we want to protect the Constitution. We are in favor of a secular West Bengal and against the amended Citizenship Act and NRC,” said Maulana Ghulam Mustafa of the local Boro Masjid, who was leading the agitation in the area.
In Kolkata, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Park Circus seven-point crossing, seeking the revocation of the law. They shouted slogans against the BJP-led government and burnt tires on the thoroughfare, leading to traffic congestions in the southern and the central parts of the city.
In Kharagpur section, too, railway tracks were blocked, affecting long-distance train services. Protesters poured out on the streets in Birbhum and East Midnapore, and shouted slogans against the BJP, demanding that the amended Act be immediately scrapped.
In Hoogly’s Arambagh area, protesters came down to the streets and ransacked a police vehicle and thrashed a police officer.
West Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu’s car was attacked by the trouble-mongers in Kanthi area of East Midnapore district. According to local sources, Basu, somehow, managed to drive past the area.A total of express and EMU trains were detained at Various stations due to the ongoing violence in the South Eastern section. Around 250 local trains on Howrah-Kharagpur section have also been cancelled. But around PM, train services resumed on Howrah-Kharagpur route.
At Uluberia station, which bore the brunt of the protest, train services resumed but it would take some time to normalize services, railway officials said.
Later, railway officials and police personnel rescued passengers from some of the stranded trains.
Several noted intellectuals of West Bengal Friday appealed to maintain peace and urged people not to take law into their own hands. The Trinamool Congress leadership blamed the central government “draconian” Citizenship Act as the main reason behind the violence.
The BJP termed the allegations “baseless” and blamed Banerjee for “fueling protests” in Bengal. It said the CM was trying to instigate people by spreading misinformation.
West Bengal CPI (M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra said the violence is being deliberately instigated by both TMC and BJP to communally polarize the politics of Bengal.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on Thursday given his assent to the bill, turning it into an Act. According to the amended Act, non-Muslim refugees, who escaped religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and moved to India before Dec (**********************************, 2019, will be granted Indian citizenship .
Idris Ali, TMC MLA from Uluberia, said he was visiting Kolkata for medical reasons and would take stock of the situation on his return.
“We do not want India to be divided; we want to protect the Constitution. We are in favor of a secular West Bengal and against the amended Citizenship Act and NRC,” said Maulana Ghulam Mustafa of the local Boro Masjid, who was leading the agitation in the area.
In Kharagpur section, too, railway tracks were blocked, affecting long-distance train services. Protesters poured out on the streets in Birbhum and East Midnapore, and shouted slogans against the BJP, demanding that the amended Act be immediately scrapped.
In Hoogly’s Arambagh area, protesters came down to the streets and ransacked a police vehicle and thrashed a police officer.
Later, railway officials and police personnel rescued passengers from some of the stranded trains.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on Thursday given his assent to the bill, turning it into an Act. According to the amended Act, non-Muslim refugees, who escaped religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and moved to India before Dec (**********************************, 2019, will be granted Indian citizenship .
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