Jharkhand: BJP workers clash with police during march to secretariat

The clash left around two dozen people, including at least two journalists and a policeman, injured. They were shifted to different hospitals and discharged after treatment.

Dhurwa roundabout in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi turned into a battlefield for around an hour on Tuesday as BJP workers marching to the state secretariat clashed with police, who in turn used force, water cannons and tear gas shells.

RBJP supporters brave water cannons during the protest. (ANI)

Police resorted to lathi-charge twice as BJP workers tried to pull down the barricades and hurled water bottles to attack the security personnel, besides pelting stones.

The clash left around two dozen people, including at least two journalists and a policeman, injured. They were shifted to different hospitals and discharged after treatment.

“A few with mild injuries were treated in the standby ambulances while others were shifted to nearby hospital,” said Ranchi deputy commissioner Rahul Sinha.

BJP, however, claimed hundreds of their workers were injured in the “targeted attack” by police.

“The targeted lathi-charge shows how scared this government is. We were protesting in a peaceful manner but our workers were targeted with batons and tear gas shells. We will burn effigy of chief minister Hemant Soren across all blocks in the state on Wednesday and observe it as a black day,” said Jharkhand BJP president Deepak Prakash.

Raghubar Das said, “Several senior IAS and IPS officers have gone for central deputation because of the functioning of this government. This government will have to go.”

Meanwhile, the ruling JMM and Congress said the protest was a failure. “They are claiming to bring crowd of 1 lakh, but not even 5,000 turned up. In order to save their face, they resorted to violence, leaving even journalists injured. People have rejected them earlier and they would continue to do so in upcoming elections,” said JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey.