Threat posters come up near protest site of Bengal govt employees

Kolkata, March 13 (IANS) Tension mounted on Monday morning after a couple of posters threatening the protesting state government employees were detected.

The posters were found near the dais where the West Bengal state government employees are protesting against the non-payment of dearness allowance arrears. The posters threatened to blow up the dais.

"Stop this drama, else the dais will be bombed and blown up," the posters detected from near the dais read.

The joint forum representatives have linked the posters with a statement made by the West Bengal municipal affairs & urban development minister and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Firhad Hakim on Sunday where the latter described the agitation on DA issues as "drama".

"It might be coincidental. But the language of the posters detected have some semblance with the words uttered by the Mayor. After the posters were detected, we informed the police and also filed an FIR with the local police station where the dais is located," said the joint forum convenor, Bhaskar Ghosh.

He also said that the language used at the poster has created panic among a section of the protesters. "We are protesting in demand of our legitimate rights. Such threatening messages will not be able to stop us from continuing with our movement on this count," Ghosh had said.

Although there has been no reaction from any Trinamool Congress leader on this count till the time the report was filed, actor-turned-politician and BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh said that as a responsible minister and the Mayor of Kolkata, Hakim should have been more careful in his choice of words.

Incidentally, a five- member delegation of the joint forum met Governor C.V. Ananda Bose at Raj Bhavan and discussed the ongoing development. After the meeting the forum representatives claimed that the Governor has assured them of initiating a tripartite meeting involving the state government in the matter.