KOLKATA: A group of agitators demonstrated against Agnipath, the Union government's proposed short-term service scheme for Army recruits, by doing push-ups on railway tracks at Barrackpore railway station in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Saturday.

Several trains were held up outside the station as a result of the unique protest blocking the railway tracks. The daily railway commuters and the agitators got into a fight. Some commuters also accused a segment of the media for over-emphasizing the protests, which they say encourages the agitators.

A large police force arrived on the scene. Initially, police officers tried to persuade the agitators to remain away from the railway tracks by verbally pursuing them. However, this failed to disperse the crowd, and the police were forced to deploy force and moderate lathi-charge to do so. The obstruction was lifted after nearly two hours, and train service was resumed.

A protest march was held in Durgapur, an industrial township in West Bengal's West Bardhaman district, by supporters of the CPI-youth M's and student wings, who demanded that Agnipath be cancelled immediately. The occasion, however, was peaceful.

Arjun Singh, a local MP from Barrackpore who recently switched from the BJP to the Trinamool Congress, said that the Union government has constantly come out with anti-people programmes that cause agitation and cause regular people to suffer. "The goal of the Union administration is to destabilise the peace," he added.

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