BJP Councillor brandishes sandal at cops after arrest

The tall talks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on bringing about a so-called social reform fell flat on Thursday when the party's veteran leader Meena Devi Purohit was found insulting the police by showing her sandal while she was being arrested during her party's "march to Lalbazar" rally.

Purohit was in the section of the rally that was approaching the Kolkata Police Headquarters at Lalbazar from Bowbazar side when the protestors were stopped by the police at the crossing of B B Ganguly Street and Phearse Lane.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, the national secretary of BJP in charge of West Bengal, was also in the same rally.

Soon, after the arrest of Vijayvargiya, women police approached the supporters of the party headed by Purohit when they were attempting to breach security barricades on B B Ganguly Street.

As soon as the women cops caught Purohit while she was trying to jostle them, she took out her sandals and started showing it to the police as if she would beat them up with the same.

Purohit, who is the Councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) from ward number 22, was calling names and abusing the police personnel.

Her brazen defiance found no obstacle as she continued showing her sandal to the police even after being arrested. Her "derogatory" attitude towards the policemen continued even when she was taken inside the police van.

She continued abusing the police while standing on the footboard of the van all the while brandishing her sandal at the police till she was pushed inside.

She was taken to Lalbazar after her arrest along with some other women supporters of the party.

A police officer, on the condition of anonymity, said: "We feel sad when we find such a veteran politician and that too from Bengal insulting the police by showing her sandal. After all, police work day and night to ensure safety and security of all the people in the state and she is also one of them."

A woman police, who was performing her duty at the same spot, said: "It seems that we do a thankless job. Being a woman, how can she do such a thing when several women policemen were also present at the spot? But it is fine as we consider it as nothing but a part and parcel of our job."