With reports of more and more BJP candidates being accosted on the campaign trail by belligerent Trinamool Congress supporters, the Union Home Ministry moved to grant additional security to the party’s candidates.
Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the Calcutta High Court judge who resigned from the judiciary and is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, was given “Y” category security.
Rekha Patra, the face of the women’s protests in Sandeshkhali against the atrocities by Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who is the BJP candidate for the Basirhat constituency, was granted “X” category. After being named as the BJP’s candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Rekha Patra “Shakti Swaroopa” for raising her voice against the Trinamool leaders. Rekha Patra was given security on the day when she and her senior party leader Archana Majumdar were heckled and chased by Trinamool Congress supporters when they were campaigning in Khairidanga village under the Dhanyakuria block of Sandeshkhali. They were also shown black flags and Archana Majumdar was hit on her back with a staff.
Other candidates like Kartick Chandra Paul of Raigunj, Nirmal Kumar Saha of Baharampur and Pranat Tudu of Jhargram were also given security. Some mid-level BJP leaders like Abhijit Barman, Tapas Das, Ashok Kandari and Ashok Purkait were also given security.
In Kolkata, young BJP leader Sajal Ghosh, who is contesting an Assembly bye-election from Baranagar, was also heckled by a group of Trinamool Congress supporters, as he went about his campaign.
BJP sources said that they could see a “clear pattern in the way the Trinamool Congress supporters were trying to disturb campaigning by BJP leaders,” which is why based upon inputs from the party, the Central Government raised the security detail.