Kolkata: SFI holds protest march against TMC govt on education issues, clashes with police; 100 detained

The two rallies were taken out by the SFI from Howrah and Sealdah railway stations this morning.

Police have allegedly detained 100 activists including SFI state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya and All India joint secretary Dipsita Dhar, IBNS has learned.

Police were also deployed at Howrah railway station to prevent any untoward incident.

The SFI activists took out rallies in Kolkata in demand of immediate conducting of student's union elections across colleges and universities of the state.

The Leftist students’ wing also protested against the closure of around 8,000 schools in the state.

According to reports, the police did not give permission for rallies in the city, citing examinations.

The activists tried to scale the iron fencing and even shouted slogans against the Trinamool government.

The police later dispersed the activists after prolonged commotion.

On police’s action, SFI leader Pratikur Rahaman said, "We took out this rally on March 10 despite knowing that examinations are going on today as we wanted to protest in front of the Assembly on a day when the session is going on."

"This state government is not willing to discuss issues related to education," he said.

He has demanded the immediate release of the detained SFI leaders.

TMC reaction:

In response to the march, TMC youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya told IBNS, “The SFI leaders went to the assembly to see how their misdeeds in the past kept their party out of power. The SFI tried to forcefully enter the assembly as they couldn’t grab a single seat with people’s mandate.”