Heckling of Supriyo proof of worsening law & order in WB: BJP

The BJP leadership on Thursday lashed out at the TMC government in West Bengal over the heckling of Union minister Babul Supriyo at Jadavpur University (JU), and said the incident is indicative of the worsening law and order situation in the state.

Supriyo was shown black flags and heckled by a section of students at the varsity, where he had gone to address a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - the student wing of the RSS.

"The incident is ample evidence of the worsening law and order situation in Bengal. The TMC government and the police allowed this to happen.

"In a state where a union minister and governor are not safe, you can very well understand the condition of the common people," BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvergiya told PTI.

Vijayvergiya also took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's recent Delhi visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying she should, instead, take care of the law and order situation in her state.

The West Bengal Congress leadership also criticised the incident and said the police should have taken prompt action to avert the episode.

"The state government has failed to uphold the rule of law. At the same time, I must say that the union minister should have been more composed in his reaction," State Congress president Somen Mitra said.

CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim alleged that the BJP and the RSS are trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) declined to make any comment on the incident.

The union minister was initially stopped from entering the campus for around one-and-half hours from 2.30 pm by members of Left-leaning organisations -- Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU) and Students Federation of India (SFI) -- who raised the slogan 'Babul Supriyo Go Back', varsity sources said.

"I did not come here to do politics. But I am saddened by the behaviour of some of the students of the university, the way they have heckled me... They pulled me by my hair and also pushed me," Supriyo, who attended the seminar amid heavy security, told reporters.