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Updated: Feb 07, 2020 16:37 IST

Bharatiya Janata Party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya was detained by the Kolkata Police, along with other leaders of the party, for leading a rally in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in south Kolkata on Friday afternoon. Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy was also detained.

“We don’t expect such behavior from the police. The way we were stopped and arrested is authoritarianism and unconstitutional. We were supporting the CAA in a democratic manner. The entire country is supporting it. We condemn the way the government is trying to stop us,” Vijayvargiya told reporters before boarding a police van.

Police, however, said that the BJP leaders were not arrested. They were just detained.

“We have detained the BJP leaders. They have not been arrested,” said Meeraj Khalid, deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police (south division).

The BJP rally was to start from Tollygunge Phari around 1 pm and was scheduled to reach Hazra about two km away. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence is near Hazra. Police however put up several barricades to stop the rally since 11:30 am.

Minor clashes broke out between the BJP supporters and the police. Vijayvargiya was detained soon after he reached the venue and asked supporters to begin the march.