State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar was detained by police on Tuesday evening while collecting money for the victims of Murshidabad violence from Hazra More in south Kolkata, close to the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

He was later released around 7.30 pm from Lalbazar, the headquarters of Kolkata Police.

“Police have become the cadres of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. We came here to raise funds for Murshidabad violence victims, and the police are saying that we have to take permission from the authorities,” the Union minister was heard saying while being taken by the police in a van.

“Is it a crime to ask for funds for those affected? Can we not protest? This is our fundamental right,” Majumdar, who had visited Murshidabad last week, told reporters.

The police also detained other BJP activists from the area.

“This is a highly secure place, and anyone planning to host any programme requires prior permission. They (BJP) should have taken permission from the local police station,” PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.

Earlier in the day, BJP supporters, led by Majumdar, engaged in a scuffle with police personnel in Chinsurah in Hooghly district on Tuesday, when they tried to enter the office of the district magistrate to protest against the recent violence in Murshidabad.

Addressing a meeting in Chinsurah, Majumdar said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should step down in the wake of the job loss of teachers, due to the “faulty recruitment process of the West Bengal School Service Commission”. “Corruption has pervaded all sections of the society under her leadership in West Bengal. She should step down owning moral responsibility,” Majumdar, also a Union minister, asserted.
In the Esplanade area of Kolkata, activists of the Hindu Surakhsha Macha took out a protest rally over the Murshidabad violence.

At least three people, including a father and son, died and over 280 have been arrested in connection with the violence earlier.

-with PTI