BJP Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumder detained on way to Howrah

It was not immediately known whether he was detained or arrested but the cops took him from the toll plaza at the end of Vidyasagar Setu (the second Hooghly bridge connecting Howrah and Kolkata) to city police headquarters Lalbazar in a lock-up van.

Mazumder was initially not allowed to move out of his New Town home as the police set up rail barricades, but the BJP supporters removed those.

The state president was scheduled to visit Howrah where a party office was vandalised and set on fire by a mob on Friday, the BJP alleged.

Earlier in the day, BJP MP from Darjeeling Raju Bista condemned the police action.

"First they attacked BJP workers and destroyed the BJP Party office. Now they have kept our Party State President Dr Sukanta Mazumder under house arrest. This is the TMC style of democracy, where opposition leaders are kept confined, but goons and rioters are allowed free movement," Bista alleged in his Twitter post.

Leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari also condemned the manner in which the state administration allegedly obstructed the party president when he tried to get out of his car.

"I condemn the manner in which BJP's Bengal President; and MP Dr Sukanta Majumder and party secretary and eminent lawyer Priyanka Tibrewal have been obstructed by WB Administration. It's proof that they're hiding the truth. I am on my way to Balarampur; Purulia, to address a public meeting," Adhikari said on his social media.

BJP MP and former state president Dilip Ghosh claimed that very soon West Bengal will become the next Bangladesh.

"Very soon Paschim Banga (West Bengal) will become the next Bangladesh. The police and administration are mere spectators to the vandalism and arson that is taking place for two days in a row. Their silence raises questions about their support for the arson," he added.

(With UNI inputs)