Cops in soup over BJP mutton lunch -Senior party leaders express discontent

BJP workers having lunch at Kotwali police station in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday Telegraph picture

TT   |   Jalpaiguri   |  16.07.20   : A group of 30-odd BJP leaders and workers, who were arrested in Jalpaiguri town during the 12-hour strike called by the party, feasted on “mangsho and bhaat” (mutton and rice) at lunchtime at Kotwali police station here on Tuesday.

But both the hosts and the guests were in a soup in less than 24 hours.

The Jalpaiguri district police ordered an inquiry into the unprecedented hospitality extended to the detainees belonging to the main opposition party.

Biswasroy Sarkar, the inspector-in-charge, was transferred as the court inspector at Contai in East Midnapore.

Abhishek Modi, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri, was brief in his reaction and said the transfer was a departmental issue. But sources said senior officers were livid with what had happened at the police station.

“This cannot be tolerated,” said a senior officer amid murmurs that the police station organised the feast to curry favour with local BJP leaders.

Although BJP functionaries in Jalpaiguri were initially claiming victory by citing the feast as a vindication of the party’s growing power, senior leaders were unhappy and expressed their displeasure.

“We will talk to those who had lunch at the police station on Tuesday. The policemen might have offered it but they should have instead rejected the lunch as they were arrested during a protest against suspected murder of a party MLA. The act of our party workers has not gone down well with senior BJP leaders,” said Bapi Goswami, the Jalpaiguri district BJP president.

On Tuesday, the BJP had called a 12-hour strike across north Bengal to protest the death of Dedendra Nath Roy, the BJP MLA of Hemtabad in North Dinajpur. Hundreds of BJP supporters hit the streets across the region to enforce the strike.

The police also made arrangements and bandh supporters were arrested in almost all districts of north Bengal.

In Jalpaiguri, the police arrested a group of around 30 bandh supporters, including local leaders, around 12.15pm and they were brought to Kotwali police station.

“We were taken to the police station and after some time, a police officer told us that we would be released later in the afternoon. He asked us what we would like to have for lunch. Some of us wanted to have mutton and rice,” said Manash Mustafi, the Jalpaiguri district president of BJP’s Mazdoor Morcha.

Like good hosts, around 2.30pm, the police served the BJP activists food packets containing mutton and rice ordered from an eatery close to the police station.

“We were surprised. We had never thought the police would actually keep our request. It seems they have finally started behaving amicably with the BJP,” another worker said.

A source in the district police said: “Anybody detained or arrested and kept at the police station should be provided with food and water.

It is a standard protocol. But whatever has happened at Kotwali police station was completely out of trend. It has not gone down well with senior officers who have raised questions over the justification of serving such a lavish lunch. An inquiry will be conducted.”