Uncertainty over BJP’s Bengal rally as HC denies permission
SILIGURI/KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: The Calcutta high court on Thursday refused to grant permission to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally, hours after the state government told the one-judge bench that the administration denied approval to the event over apprehensions of law and order problems.
The BJP may approach the court again on Friday morning after the order put a question mark on a much-publicised public meeting and a rally, which was to be kick-started by BJP president Amit Shah in the afternoon on the same day in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district.
BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said “a responsible political party” will wait for the court’s verdict.
“We did not expect this verdict. We have asked lawyers to study the order. If necessary, we will move the Supreme Court,” he said in Cooch Behar.
In New Delhi, a senior BJP functionary said Shah will “definitely” visit West Bengal on Friday. “We will abide by law on the issue of taking out a ‘yatra’. We are closely monitoring the matter,” he said.
Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh was hopeful that the ‘Save Democracy Rally’ will be launched. “Our preparations are complete,” he said. But tension was palpable in the district where Ghosh’s car came under attack. The BJP leader alleged the involvement of the ruling Trinamool Congress, which said the incident could be the result of a faction war in the BJP.
Ahead of next year’s general elections, the BJP leadership is focusing on West Bengal, which accounts for 42 Lok Sabha seats. Shah has set a target of winning at least 22 of these in 2019.
The BJP has planned three so-called ‘rath yatras’, including the one in Cooch Behar, covering most of the parliamentary seats and 294 assembly constituencies over the next one-and-a-half months. Similar ‘yatras’ are scheduled to begin in Gangasagar on December 9 and in Tarapith on December 14.
In the 2014 elections, the BJP could win just two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and polled about 87 lakh votes.
In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said chief minister Mamata Banerjee was busy playing “politics of appeasement” and running a dictatorship.
Kishore Dutta, the state’s advocate general, told the high court in Kolkata that Cooch Behar police refused permission to the event on the grounds that it could trigger communal tension. The BJP, which approached the HC on Nov 30 seeking permission for its rallies, told the bench of justice Tapabrata Chakraborty that it will hold peaceful ‘yatras’.
The court said it cannot give any permission at this stage, observing that security arrangements on such a huge scale cannot be made within a short time. The judge also ruled that the rally would stand deferred till the next date of hearing on January 9.
After the ruling, lawyers for the BJP went to the chamber of Chief Justice Debasish Kargupta, requesting the constitution of a special bench to hear the matter as the court hours had ended for the day. He refused to accept the BJP’s demand and asked the party to file an appeal on Friday morning.
“We welcome the verdict. The state government report has made the court realise that West Bengal is on the brink of communal unrest though it is a pity that the government ... left the matter to the court,” said Md Salim, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member and a parliamentarian.
Abdul Mannan, leader of Opposition and a Congress legislator, too, welcomed the decision.