Kolkata: Four student activists associated with the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ (a significant protest march to the Bengal Secretariat) on Monday have gone missing, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed on Tuesday.
He said the four student activists were distributing food to the volunteers arriving at the Howrah station when they suddenly disappeared after midnight.
According to the LoP, these four student activists are Subhojit Ghosh, Pulokesh Pandit, Goutam Senapati and Pritam Sarkar.
“Neither they can be traced nor are they answering their phones. We apprehend that they may have been arrested or detained by the state police,” Adhikari said, leaving the situation shrouded in uncertainty.
Trinamool Congress leadership has, however, claimed that it is doubtful whether the student activists the LoP was referring to are ‘really missing or not, and there was a possibility that such claims were made by the latter to spread tension since Tuesday morning.’
Nabanna turns into a fortress
Meanwhile, the state police have started raising aluminium guard walls at five points leading to the state secretariat located at Mandirtala in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district.
State police sources said that these guard walls would be fixed on the roads to prevent protesters from going beyond that and approaching the secretariat.
In addition to these aluminium guard walls, metal barricades will be in different places. Barricades are being welded to large iron pipes by digging holes in the streets to prevent the protesters from tearing them down. Water cannons have also been installed in places where they are necessary.
There will also be aerial surveillance for which drones will be used.
The routes of several public buses have already been diverted. Police fear the traffic system in the city’s different pockets might be thrown out of gear following the protest march, potentially causing significant disruption and inconvenience. However, the general public seems not to be complaining.
The march is being conducted in protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month.
The ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ call has been given on social media by the students who have invited everyone to join in without carrying the banner of any political party. It is similar to the call given by women for a midnight march on the eve of Independence Day, seeking justice for the R.G. Kar rape and murder victim.
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–IANS
