By IANS
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee condemned Wednesday’s violence in the city after a protest programme by some Muslim organisations against the granting of Indian visa to Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin and Nandigram atrocities went out of control.
“I strongly condemn the violence. It is an incident of irresponsible leadership of the organisation, All India Minority Forum (AIMF), which called the road blockade programme,” he told reporters at the state secretariat.
He said night curfew would be imposed in the areas under five police stations – Beniapukur, Topsia, Entali, Park Street and Karya – in the central part of the city.
“The curfew would continue from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. But I personally appeal before all the people not to indulge in violence and maintain law and order,” he said.
A call of a road blockade by the AIMF, headed by Congress leader and lawyer Idris Ali, went out of hand as thousands of frenzied protesters from central Kolkata’s Muslim-inhabited areas unleashed a free-for-all for hours.
The state government called in the army after mobs torched several vehicles and two offices of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and also attacked policemen.