Cong men, train passengers clash

BASIRHAT: A clash broke out between supporters of Basirhat Town Congress and railway passengers after partymen reportedly supporters

squatted on railway tracks at Basirhat station on the Sealdah-Hasnabad section of eastern railway on Saturday morning.

The party was protesting against renaming Indira Bhavan as Nazrul Bhavan. Forced by the passengers, Congress supporters later withdrew their agitation. had to withdraw their agitation squatting track after the passengers forced them to do it.

Train services on the Sealdah-Hasnabad section were disrupted for an hour following the blockade and the clash.

Problem started at around 8am when passengers requested party workers to vacate the tracks. A clash occurred when Congress supporters refused to budge. "The agitators threatened passengers with dire consequence if they tried to force them to stop their agitation," said daily commuter Kundan Haldar. TNN

Around 8am the supporters of Basirhat Town Congress squatted on the track at Basirhat station and launched an agitation to protest against the renaming of Indira Bhawan while Up and Down Hasnabad-Sealdah local were stranded at the Basirhat station. Few minutes after some passengers got down from the train and requested the agitators to remove from the track. But the party supporters allegedly did not pay any heed to their request and continued to squat on the track. "Later more persons including the local residents joined the passengers and asked the party supporters to remove from the track which the agitators denied again and threatened the passengers with harm if they tried to force them to stop their agitation", said Kundan Haldar, a daily passenger. Then a heated argument was exchanged between the party supporters and the passengers and soon a clash ensued. Later the Congress supporters had to withdraw their agitation and remove from the rail track. The normal railway services resumed again around 9 am.

Is this new courage shown by the passengers a harbinger of the resolve of the general public to stop being blackmailed by a handful of demonstrators who hold the whole city to ransom.

I have commented earlier that just 10 or 12 hooligans placed strategically at each important cross roads can bring the entire city to a halt i.e just a 100 people can bring the whole of Kolkata to a standstill.

The police just stand quietly while these people smash window panes of cars and buses. Smashing one is sufficient to make other vehicles which were on route to hastily.

However, these were congress demonstrators.
I wonder if the passengers would have acted similarly in the demonstrators were from the Trinamul Congress or after Mamata Banerjee's becoming CM, have the TMC stopped demonstrating.

Only time will tell.