Thiruvananthapuram: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) march to the KPCC headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, organised in protest against the Congress demonstration outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in New Delhi, turned tense after police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.
The march, led by BJP state president and MLA Rajeev Chandrasekhar, was described as a response to the Congress protest in Delhi against the Union government and PM Modi. Police used water cannons as the protesters approached the KPCC headquarters.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar was among those hit by the water cannon. Senior BJP leaders were also present.
The BJP alleged that a woman party worker was slapped by a police officer during the agitation.
Addressing the protesters, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the BJP would not allow democracy to be undermined and alleged that the Congress protest in New Delhi amounted to an attempt to attack the Prime Minister.
Responding to the march, KPCC president and State Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph alleged that the BJP had deliberately attempted to provoke a confrontation by marching to the Congress headquarters.
He said the BJP’s protest was aimed at diverting attention from the public outrage over the alleged excesses by the Delhi Police and central security forces against students protesting in the national capital and against Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders who had supported them.
While everyone has the democratic right to protest, Sunny Joseph said it could not be used as a licence to create violence or confrontation.
He alleged that the BJP was trying to conceal its political failures and anti people policies through such provocative agitations and asserted that the Congress would counter them politically while upholding democratic values and the rule of law.
He also said no one should believe that the Congress could be intimidated into abandoning its stand in defence of the rights and welfare of the people through threats or attacks, adding that there was no place for the politics of violence in Kerala.
(IANS)
