Suvendu Adhikari ascribes Kolkata violence to ‘foreign fundamentalist forces’

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday (July 26, 2026) claimed that Islamic fundamentalists, possibly with the backing of foreign forces, had perpetrated the violence during protests in Kolkata on Friday (July 24, 2026).

Protests against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper leak in Kolkata turned violent on Friday as protesters clashed with the police, prompting security forces to baton charge and fire tear gas shells to disperse the agitators.

The police have arrested 14 persons in connection with the violence. They were produced before a city court on Sunday. The accused were produced before a city court which remanded them to two days in police custody. The counsel for the accused asked why people had been arrested in Kolkata while no cases were being registered against protesters across the country.

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All the cases had been filed by journalists who were assaulted by the protesters, the Chief Minister said.

Out of seven cases, six have been filed by journalists. Several journalists were assaulted and heckled by the mob on Friday.

Mr. Adhikari reiterated the protests had nothing to do with the NEET exam paper leak and about 70 persons were identified for their involvement in the violence. “They have nothing to do with the movement. They are not even students. They are Islamic fundamentalists. Investigators are probing whether any foreign force is behind them,” he said. The people behind the violence were upset with the decisions that the “nationalist government here has taken to implement the law for the last 10 weeks”, Mr. Adhikari said.

Mr. Adhikari had earlier said that the Goonda Act, a new law with provisions for preventive detention of up to 12 months, had been invoked against the accused. This will be the first instance of the law being put into practice in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have announced rallies on Monday (July 27, 2026), as a counter to Friday’s rally. On Tuesday (July 28, 2026), at least half-a-dozen organisations, including the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, and the Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, will also take to the streets to protest.