Chaos at Brigade rally as saffron party leaders try to control unruly supporters

Kolkata: The attempt of BJP to fill up the Brigade Parade Ground during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally turned boomerang with situation often going out of control as repeated pandemonium broke out close to the dais causing inconvenience to many.

The situation turned so worse, a couple of times, that even the barricade separating the 'D' zone and media enclosure with that of the place for party supporters threatened to get damaged. Even there are reports of many mobile phones going missing from the rally ground.

As many as five complaints were lodged with the nearest Maidan police station regarding loss of mobile phones. According to a police officer, usually one or two cases get lodged on days when such a rally takes place at Brigade Parade Ground. But five cases have already been reported till Sunday evening. Many, who came from districts, seem would report to police after returning to their home town as it is not become possible for them to locate the police station here and also they used to be in a hurry to return home.

The BJP leaders were seen repeatedly requesting the gathering to stay where they are. But the BJP supporters kept on moving close to the dais so that when Modi arrives, they can have a close look at him. In two occasions BJP leaders like Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee, Mukul Roy, Rajib Banerjee and Sabyasachi Dutta were seen requesting people not to move forward. But that did not help much.

A large group of people violated the barricade and went inside the media enclosure. This time BJP state president Dilip Ghosh was seen scolding the party supporters and workers. Though the situation changed for a few minutes, again a chaotic situation cropped up when BJP leader Debasree Chaudhuri was addressing the gathering. Someone from the gathering on the left side of the dais fell down. Seeing the incident, Chaudhuri stopped her speech and asked to take the injured man to a safe place.

Later Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya managed to convince people to calm down and wait for Modi but again an uncontrollable situation cropped up when the Prime Minister was entering the ground. Now Supriyo again took charge of handling the situation.