Unique Protest: Agnipath Agitators Do Push-ups On Railway Tracks at Barrackpore Station in West Bengal

As a result of the unique protest blocking the railways tracks, several trains were held up outside the station and led to an altercation between the daily commuters and the agitators.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Priyanka

Published: June 18, 2022, 6:01 PM IST

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Agnipath protesters do push-ups on railway tracks in Bengal. (Photo: IANS)

Kolkata: A group of youth in West Bengal protesting against Agnipath, the short-term Army recruitment scheme proposed by the Union government, resorted to a unique way of protest on Saturday. They started doing push-ups on railway tracks at Barrackpore railway station in North 24 Parganas district, reported news agency IANS.

As a result of the unique protest blocking the railways tracks, several trains were held up outside the station and led to an altercation between the daily commuters and the agitators. Some of the commuters also blamed a section of the media for unnecessarily highlighting the protests and encouraging the agitators.

Policemen rushed in large numbers to the spot and tried to verbally pursue the agitators to stay away from the railway tracks first. However, that did not work and the police had to resort to use of force and mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. After almost two hours, the blockade was removed and train services resumed.

Political parties and leaders jump in

At the industrial township of Durgapur in West Bardhaman district of West Bengal, the supporters of youth and student wings of the CPI-M organised a protest rally demanding immediate cancellation of Agnipath. However, the event was peaceful.

The local MP from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, who has recently joined Trinamool Congress from BJP, said that the Union government has always come out with such anti-people schemes which provoke agitations and common people suffer. “The Union government’s aim is to destabilise peace,” he added.

BJP’s state president in West Bengal and party MP, Sukanta Majumdar said that the non-BJP parties are actually misleading the youths and instigating them to resort to such disruptive activities. “I request the agitators to go through the Agnipath scheme and read its plus points,” he said.

(With IANS inputs)