BJP workers breaking a police barricade during a protest outside Kozhikode Collectorate on Saturday. , Photo credits: K. Ragesh
Youth Congress and BJP workers were seen scuffling with police outside the Kozhikode collectorate on Thursday as they protested against tax hike proposals in the state budget.
He demanded that the government roll back the proposed hike in social security cess on petrol and diesel. Charges were filed against 12 BJP workers and 11 Youth Congress workers after the protest turned violent.
Youth Congress workers protesting outside the Kozhikode collectorate on Thursday. , Photo credits: K. Ragesh
The BJP march started from Eranipalem and the party’s state president K.K. Surendran started it. He demanded that the state government recover tax dues from big industrialists, mine owners and liquor traders and avoid passing the burden on the people. He alleged that the government was looting the common people to pay for the extravagance by ministers and officials.
Police stopped the protesters when they tried to enter the collectorate complex by removing barricades at the entrance. Later, water cannons were used to disperse the protesters, who were later arrested.
The Youth Congress march also started from Eranipalem. District Congress Committee President K. Praveen Kumar inaugurated the dharna. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan were competing with each other in implementing anti-people policies. He said that if the Congress ministers and the Chief Minister did not withdraw the tax proposals, he would not let them sleep peacefully.
The protesters tried to enter the collectorate premises by breaking the police barricades. Water cannons were later used and there was tension for a while when the police tried to remove the workers by force. The agitators blocked the traffic on the busy National Highway passing through the collectorate for about half an hour. He was later arrested.