Police Stops BJP MP Locket Chatterjee from Attending Hanuman Jayanti Event in Bengal’s Hooghly District

GG News Bureau

Hooghly, 7th April. Locket Chatterjee, a senior BJP leader, sat on a protest on Thursday after police stopped her from visiting her Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency to attend Hanuman Jayanti celebrations, citing a law-and-order situation following clashes between two groups earlier this week.

While sitting on the road, she was seen reading the Hanuman Chalisa.

Chatterjee was on her way to Bansberia in the Hooghly district when police stopped her convoy and asked her to return, claiming that her visit would exacerbate tensions in the troubled area.

She said, “The police stopped me though I am the local MP. I was invited to attend the Hanuman Jayanti programme there. But the police are asking me to go back. Why is an elected representative stopped from visiting her constituency?”

According to the BJP leader, she informed the governor about the incident, and he promised to investigate it.

After being stopped, the MP and BJP workers began demonstrating in the area, alleging that she was called an “outsider” by the police. She also began reading the Hanuman Chalisa.

Police officers were seen requesting that Chatterjee return and come back another day when the situation had calmed down.

Chatterjee was chastised by the ruling Trinamool Congress for attempting to disrupt the peace in the troubled area.

“The BJP is trying to disrupt peace and communal harmony in the state. When the police have restored peace, why is the BJP trying to foment trouble? At the cost of peace, the BJP wants to get votes,” TMC state vice-president Jaiprakash Majumdar said.

Prohibitory orders were issued in the Hooghly and Howrah districts after clashes erupted between two groups during Ram Navami processions.

Following a Calcutta High Court order, central police forces were deployed on Thursday in parts of Kolkata, Hooghly, and Barrackpore to assist state police in maintaining law and order in view of the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.