Kolkata: A mob of around 25-30 people wearing saffron turbans, scarves, shirts and kurtas shouted slogans and smeared saffron paint on two white pillars outside Anandabazar Patrika’s office on Prafulla Sarkar Street in central Kolkata around 1 pm on Tuesday.The crowd left 30 minutes after staging a demonstration and shouting slogans against the newspaper’s coverage of recent events.Less than an hour after they left, the newspaper management whitewashed the saffron paint from the pillars and got it back to its original white colour.A senior Kolkata Police officer said he is not aware whether any complaint has been lodged.Debjit Sarkar, BJP spokesperson, said: “I don’t know who all went there. Wearing saffron cannot be a political identity. If any particular person is identified, the party can comment on it. Our party does not condone attacks on any place. We don’t know who went there, but our party was not involved.”Tuesday’s incident comes days after chief minister Suvendu Adhikari expressed strong objection to a newspaper headline following the violence at Jadavpur University.On Tuesday, the protesters, who did not reveal whom they represented, gathered outside the newspaper’s main building on Prafulla Sarkar Street. Amid a heavy police presence, they hung a saffron stole over the main gate and staged a sit-in.Some chanted slogans of ‘Bhagwa ka apmaan nahi sahega’ (We will not tolerate the insult of Bhagwa) and some shouted: “This land belongs to Syama Prasad Mookerjee. This land belongs to Swami Vivekananda. This land is saffron”.Several cops stood by during the incident. Some of them were also seen recording the incident on their cellphones. The saffron-clad men could be seen sloganeering near the main gate in both Hindi and Bengali. “We have no objection to Anandabazar Patrika criticising the govt or even the CM. But no one has the right to disrespect the saffron colour. We are holding a peaceful protest in accordance with cop instructions. If they do not correct themselves, there will be a bigger protest later,” a protester said.After staging the demonstration for some time, the protesters smeared saffron colour on two pillars beside the main gate and left the spot raising slogans.Kolkata Police had earlier lodged an FIR at Bowbazar PS against two senior journalists of the newspaper including the editor following a complaint by a person where he alleged that the newspaper had used the headline with an intention to hurt Hindu sentiments and disturb public peace.
