Auditorium cancels booking for Bhagwat event

The authorities of Mahajati Sadan, a prominent government-owned auditorium in Kolkata, have cancelled the booking for an event scheduled for early October where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was supposed to deliver a speech. Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was also scheduled to attend the programme on October 3.

The subject of the speech was Sister Nivedita’s role in India’s nationalist movement.

“By July we completed all formalities and informed the police about the VIP movement. Suddenly, on August 31, the auditorium told us our booking could be cancelled and gave several vague reasons, finally asking us to obtain a no-objection certificate from the police. This NOC was never required before but we approached police anyway. The authorities called us on September 1 and said the booking was cancelled for maintenance,” Rantideb Sengupta, general secretary of Sister Nivedita Mission Trust, told HT on Monday.

The organisation is now looking for another auditorium.

Sources said though the topic of discussion is not communally sensitive, the state government thought the timing of the visit was itself fraught with risk. Bijoya Dashami (the last day of Durga Puja) and Muharram are on subsequent days on September 30 and October 1.

The state administration apprehends that there may be attempts from several interest groups to trigger unrest between communities, and the RSS chief’s visit may aggravate such situation.