Parliament row spills onto city street: BJP-Cong clash leaves cop injured

Kolkata: The confrontation over Union Home minister Amit Shah’s alleged insult to BR Ambedkar, which turned unprecedentedly ugly in the Parliament premises and reportedly left two MPs injured, spilled onto the streets of Kolkata.

Clashes erupted between members of the BJP’s youth wing and Congress supporters in the Entally area during a protest rally, leaving a police officer injured. However, both sides accused each other of instigating the violence.

The BJP alleged that Congress workers attacked their Yuva Morcha activists, who were staging a peaceful protest outside the Congress state office against Rahul Gandhi’s alleged physical assault on BJP MPs in Parliament.

The BJP alleged that Congress workers pelted the protesters with stones, glass bottles, and bricks.

“Shocking scenes from Kolkata! Congress workers resorted to violence by pelting stones, throwing glass bottles, and hurling bricks at BJP Yuva Morcha workers, who were peacefully protesting against Rahul Gandhi’s physical attack on BJP MPs in the Indian Parliament,” BJP leader and co-in-charge of Bengal Amit Malviya posted on X.

Senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya dismissed the BJP’s claims and accused the saffron party of instigating the violence.

“It was BJP workers who attacked Congress supporters standing near our party office. They are trying to shift the blame after creating the unrest,” he said.

Later, the police dispersed the crowd and controlled the situation.

Earlier in the day, the face-off between the Opposition and ruling NDA over alleged insult to B R Ambedkar took an unprecedented ugly turn in Parliament premises on Thursday with claims of pushing and shoving involving MPs, leaving two BJP members hospitalised and a woman BJP MP accusing Rahul Gandhi of “misbehaving” with her.

Both sides lodged complaints at New Delhi’s Parliament Street Police Station.