Barring minor incidents, the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the BJP in the Ettumanur municipal area on Tuesday, in protest against the attack on its party office on Saturday and Sunday, passed off peacefully.
According to Ettumanur police, they had registered a case against 30 hartal supporters for obstructing public transport under Section 283 of IPC. The incident occurred when the police blocked the BJP activists who were taking out a procession, which led to a minor clash.
BJP-CPI(M) tussle
The hartal was the culmination of a tussle between the BJP and the CPI(M) activists that was going on for the past few weeks. On Saturday night, according to BJP district chief N. Hari, four of their activists were attacked by CPI(M) activists. Even as tension mounted, the BJP office in the area was attacked , allegedly by CPI(M) activists.
The BJP’s main grouse is that the police are following a unilateral attitude while filing cases in the skirmishes and the police are arresting their activists alone.
