International Workers' Day, popularly known as May Day, was celebrated in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal as rallies were brought out and photographs of communist icons garlanded.
However, a scuffle broke out between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress workers at Kashipur in North Kolkata as Left supporters attempted to hoist a party flag at an office which they alleged was "taken away" by the ruling party in the state in 2016. TMC cadres confronted the Left activists, leading to a scuffle.
However, a strong police contingent brought the situation under control, a senior officer said.
The CPI(M) alleged that the TMC carried out an unprovoked attack on their workers and police remained mute spectators, whereas the ruling party in the state claimed the Left workers faced the wrath of the locals after first attacking Trinamool Congress cadres.
Rallies were brought out by trade union wings of the CPI(M), CPI and CPI (ML) Liberation and other Left outfits across the state.
Government offices were shut as a holiday was declared on the occasion. At Shramik Bhavan, the office of the CPI(M)'s trade union wing CITU, senior CPI(M) leader Biman Bose and CITU leader Anadi Sahu hoisted the red flag and garlanded the photographs of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and other proponents of the working class movement.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim took part in a programme in Entally.
The CITU, CPI's trade union wing AITUC and other Left organisations took out rallies in different parts of the state. The CPI (ML) Liberation took out rallies in the jute mill belt on either side of the Hooghly River in Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas districts.
Red flags were seen fluttering at autorickshaw stands and hawkers' union offices in parts of Kolkata.
In Presidency and Jadavpur universities, the day was observed by Left students' unions even though the campuses were closed with May Day being a holiday.
