West Bengal BJP calls for 12-hour bandh on September 26 to protest against death of 2 students in Islampur

In a bid to protest against the death of two students in North Dinajpur’s Islampur amidst clashes, the West Bengal unit of BJP has called a 12-hour bandh on September 26. 

Minutes after the BJP announced the bandh, the West Bengal Chief Minister who is in Milan, Italy, said that under no circumstances the bandh will be observed. “Now, I’m hearing that some people have called a bandh. We will not allow anyone to observe bandh. Anyone who tries to impose the bandh forcibly, will have action taken against them,” said Banerjee. 

Reacting to the Chief Minister’s comment, senior BJP leader Mukul Roy said, “The bandh will be observed for sure. At one point, Mamata Banerjee had observed a bandh for 36 hours straight. The chief minister is saying we are playing with fire. She is wrong, it’s not us but it’s her who is playing with fire.”

The BJP state leadership had earlier announced a march to the West Bengal secretariat -- Nabanna on the same day. However, on Saturday they called it off and announced the state-wide 12-hour strike to protest against the death of two ex-students. 

Senior leaders of BJP like Mukul Roy and Locket Chatterjee are scheduled to visit the family of both the deceased on Sunday in Islampur. 

On the other hand, RSS has demanded the resignation of the education minister Partha Chatterjee within 24 hours after Chatterjee claimed that it was a conspiracy of the RSS and BJP.

“The education minister must apologise within 24 hours else we will take legal action. He mentioned our organisation’s name. Two innocent children have died but they are politicising the issue and maligning our organisation by saying such things. Mere allegations will not suffice, they have to prove the allegations, else they will be liable for legal action. We also demand CBI investigation into the incident as to who opened fire at the students resulting in their death,” said Jishnu Bose, Bengal RSS leader.