<p>Kolkata: The BJP on Monday staged a protest in Kolkata, with leaders and workers donning posters of Rabindranath Tagore around their necks, charging the ruling TMC with disrespecting West Bengal’s cultural icons and silencing dissent.</p><p>The protest was held outside Rabindra Sadan, a major government auditorium named after the Nobel Laureate poet.</p><p>The protest came a day after the BJP accused Trinamool Congress’s student wing, TMCP, of burning a portrait of Tagore in Malda district during a demonstration.</p><p>Led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, the saffron party supporters marched to the gates of Rabindra Sadan in central Kolkata but were prevented from entering.</p><p>Adhikari said, “Everywhere there are locks - locks on industries, locks on democracy, locks on gates. Even Rabindra Sadan has been locked to keep us out. Is this Mamata Banerjee’s personal property, bought with Trinamool’s family money?"</p><p>The BJP workers declared themselves “Rabindrapremi” (devotees of Tagore) and vowed to continue peaceful protests.</p><p>“We will neither break locks nor jump gates, but we will protest,” Adhikari said, alleging that several artistes and others were stopped from joining the agitation.</p><p>The BJP on Sunday accused TMCP of burning a portrait of Tagore at Chanchal College in Malda district bordering Bangladesh during a demonstration over the dismantling of a TMC stage by the Army at Mayo Road in Kolkata a few days ago.</p>.'Will pour acid': TMC leader threatens BJP MLA for calling migrant workers infiltrators.<p>Photos and videos of the incident went viral on social media, sparking outrage across political circles.</p><p>BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya sharpened the attack, terming the act “jihadi mindset".</p><p>“On the soil of Rabindranath Tagore, his portrait is being set on fire. What can be more disastrous? We have seen such acts in Bangladesh. The ancestral house of Satyajit Ray and many other greats were vandalised, and libraries were set ablaze. The same picture is now visible in Malda’s Chanchal,” he told reporters.</p><p>Bhattacharya alleged that the “language of protest” in border districts had become identical to that of Bangladesh.</p><p>“People of Bangladesh and TMC both speak Bengali, but when have students in Bengal ever burnt the picture of Rabindranath?” he asked.</p><p>The TMC dismissed the charges as “cheap theatrics” by the BJP to distract from its own failures in the state.</p>
<p>Kolkata: The BJP on Monday staged a protest in Kolkata, with leaders and workers donning posters of Rabindranath Tagore around their necks, charging the ruling TMC with disrespecting West Bengal’s cultural icons and silencing dissent.</p><p>The protest was held outside Rabindra Sadan, a major government auditorium named after the Nobel Laureate poet.</p><p>The protest came a day after the BJP accused Trinamool Congress’s student wing, TMCP, of burning a portrait of Tagore in Malda district during a demonstration.</p><p>Led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, the saffron party supporters marched to the gates of Rabindra Sadan in central Kolkata but were prevented from entering.</p><p>Adhikari said, “Everywhere there are locks - locks on industries, locks on democracy, locks on gates. Even Rabindra Sadan has been locked to keep us out. Is this Mamata Banerjee’s personal property, bought with Trinamool’s family money?"</p><p>The BJP workers declared themselves “Rabindrapremi” (devotees of Tagore) and vowed to continue peaceful protests.</p><p>“We will neither break locks nor jump gates, but we will protest,” Adhikari said, alleging that several artistes and others were stopped from joining the agitation.</p><p>The BJP on Sunday accused TMCP of burning a portrait of Tagore at Chanchal College in Malda district bordering Bangladesh during a demonstration over the dismantling of a TMC stage by the Army at Mayo Road in Kolkata a few days ago.</p>.'Will pour acid': TMC leader threatens BJP MLA for calling migrant workers infiltrators.<p>Photos and videos of the incident went viral on social media, sparking outrage across political circles.</p><p>BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya sharpened the attack, terming the act “jihadi mindset".</p><p>“On the soil of Rabindranath Tagore, his portrait is being set on fire. What can be more disastrous? We have seen such acts in Bangladesh. The ancestral house of Satyajit Ray and many other greats were vandalised, and libraries were set ablaze. The same picture is now visible in Malda’s Chanchal,” he told reporters.</p><p>Bhattacharya alleged that the “language of protest” in border districts had become identical to that of Bangladesh.</p><p>“People of Bangladesh and TMC both speak Bengali, but when have students in Bengal ever burnt the picture of Rabindranath?” he asked.</p><p>The TMC dismissed the charges as “cheap theatrics” by the BJP to distract from its own failures in the state.</p>