Desperate BJP goons from outside Bengal smash statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar inside the college.Violent mob o… https://t.co/Ah2U2jWrYo — Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) 1557844360000

KOLKATA: The BJP and TMC supporters on Tuesday fought pitched battles on the streets of Kolkata during a massive roadshow by Amit Shah , who escaped unhurt but was forced to cut short the jamboree and had to be escorted to safety by police.BJP president Amit Shah said that TMC "hooligans" were responsible for the clashes at his roadshow and accused West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of trying to provoke violence. Hitting back, the Trinamool Congress chief said that BJP pre-planned the violence and brought "goons" from outside the state to attack the Calcutta University campus.Following the clashes, a delegation of BJP leaders met the Election Commission and urged the poll panel to bar Mamata from campaigning."We demanded from the EC that disturbing elements and history-sheeters be arrested immediately,central forces' flag march be conducted and CM Mamata Banerjee be barred from campaigning for instigating her supporters," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said after meeting the poll panel.Parts of the city plunged into a welter of violence as Shah's convoy was attacked with stones by alleged TMC supporters from inside the hostel of Vidyasagar College, triggering a clash between supporters of the two parties, officials said.Furious BJP supporters retaliated and were seen exchanging blows with their TMC rivals outside the college entrance.Several motorcycles parked outside were vandalised and set ablaze. Shards of broken glass littered the lobby of the college where a bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a noted philosopher and a key figure of Bengal Renaissance, was smashed to smithreens. Police personnel were seen trying to douse the fire with buckets filled with water.Contingents of Kolkata Police deployed for the roadshow swung into action and were seen chasing away the warring groups."There was an attempt by TMC hooligans to attack me. Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal chief minister) tried to provoke violence. But I am safe," Shah told a Hindi TV news channel.Shah said that while clashes erupted, police remained a mute spectator.He said he was told by police that the permission for the roadshow ended near the college and that he will be taken to the ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda on Bidhan Sarani."They (police) deviated from the planned route and took a way where there were traffic jams. I was not allowed to reach Swami Vivekananda's house to pay tributes and I am saddened by it," Shah claimed.Hitting back at the BJP chief, Mamata called him a "goonda"."If you lay your hands on Vidyasagar, what will I call you other than a goonda," he told a rally in Behala in the city."I hate your ideology, I hate your ways," she said, and announced a protest rally on Thursday against the vandalisation of the bust of Vidyasagar.TMC spokesperson Derek O' Brien wrote on Twitter, "Desperate BJP goons from outside Bengal smash statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar inside the college. Violent mob of BJP 'outsiders' in presence of Pukeworthy Shah. How little you know about Bengal, its rich history, its culture. Bengal will never forgive for what you did today. (sic)."Trinamool Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray tweeted, "Hired goons of BJP vandalised Calcutta University and Vidyasagar College, bikes set ablaze, bust of Vidyasagar demolished today during roadshow of BJP President in Kolkata today. What a tribute to Vidyasagar on the eve of his bicentenary (sic)."Earlier, there was a scuffle when a group shouted slogans against Shah outside the Calcutta University campus and showed him black flags. Police, however, swiftly brought the situation under control.Before the clashing mobs took over the streets of central Kolkata, Shah led a saffron surge in parts of the city as chants of 'Jai Shri Ram, Jai Jai Shri Ram' alternated with frenzied chorus of 'Modi! Modi!'.Clad in a kurta-pyjama ensemble and a pink Modi jacket to boot, Shah smiled broadly from atop an open roof vehicle, waving at people and thrusting a clenched fist into air while a massive crowd followed him in the BJP's show of strength five days before the final phase of general election.A virtual carnival unfolded during his nearly 4-km roadshow from Esplanade to the ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda, a journey he could not complete.Impressed with the turnout of BJP supporters on Kolkata streets, a rare sight since the defeat and virtual eclipse of the Left Front whose rallies were stuff of legend because of sheer size, Shah declared the BJP will win more than 282 seats in the election, the number of constituencies it had clinched in 2014."They (the TMC) killed several of our workers. Nothing can make a party president sadder. Didi (West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee) should know the more violence her party perpetrates the more the lotus (BJP's election symbol) will bloom," he told a TV channel.Shah claimed the people of West Bengal have made up their mind to back Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defeat the Trinamool Congress.Responding to Banerjee's allegation that the BJP had brought people from other states to rig the elections in West Bengal and that saffron party workers in CRPF uniforms were vitiating the poll process, Shah said his party was ruling 16 states and nowhere it adopted such vile tactics."I want to assure Didi as much ... we will never do anything like that," he said.Tension was palpable since noon, hours before Shah's roadshow began, after posters with images of Modi and him were dismantled by the police, provoking several senior leaders to stage a flash sit-in.BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, the party's pointsman for the northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan remonstrated.Vijayvargiya was seen involved in a heated argument with a police officer."No democracy exists in Bengal," Pradhan said, adding the people of the state were with Narendra Modi."You (the TMC and Mamata Banerjee) are scared of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. But why should you be afraid of their posters?" Sarma said.