Activists of BJP's youth wing clashed with the police and many of them courted arrest while trying to gherao the Assembly building here Thursday accusing Odisha government of failing to provide jobs.
A large number of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists took out a rally from the party office here in a bid to gherao Assembly building shouting slogans against the BJD government for growing unemployment.
However, police personnel were deployed in strength to prevent the demonstrators from moving close to the Assembly building, a police official said adding that the protesters were stopped at certain points.
A scuffle ensued between police and demonstrators when they tried to break the cordon in a bid to proceed. Several protesters were taken into preventive custody.
As prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC are in force in the area, around 400 activists were taken into custody as a preventive measure, Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty said.
BJYM National Secretary Sourav Choudhury, who was also into preventive custody after the clash, said the voice of the youths was being suppressed but the agitation against the BJD government will be stepped up for its failure to provide employment opportunities to the jobless.
BJYM's state President Tankadhara Tripathy said the morcha will intensify its agitation against Naveen Patnaik government which has failed to provide jobs to the youth during the last 19 years of its rule.
Terming BJYM's protest as surprising, senior BJD leader Puspendra Singh Deo said it is the BJP-led Government at the centre which needs to give an explanation about its failure to keep its promise of generating two crore employment opportunities in the country every year.
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