The Calcutta High Court on Thursday gave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the go-ahead for rath-yatra. However, the court placed several crucial conditions on the party.
The Court said that the BJP will have to inform the state administration twelve hours before entering one district from another.
Two, the court has said that the BJP will be liable for any untoward incident. While the government has been asked to take adequate security measures, the BJP was also asked to ensure that the rath-yatra does not inconvenience the common people.
The Bengal government had refused to grant permission to the rath-yatra organised by the BJP on grounds of apprehension of “breach of peace” and “communal violence”. In a letter written to the party, the West Bengal government authorities had informed the leaders on the government’s reservations about the rath-yatra. The Bengal unit of the BJP decided to move court against the government decision.
A five-member team from the BJP had called on the chief secretary, home secretary and the state director-general of police at the city police headquarters Lalbazar last week to discuss the possibilities of organising the party’s rath-yatra.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court had asked the government officials to discuss the matter with BJP representatives. Accordingly, a five-member team including BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, senior leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvarghiya met the officials at Lalbazar last week.
However, after the party received yet another communication from the government that the rallies could not be allowed due to the government’s apprehension of “breach of peace”, the BJP was left with no option but to move court.
The government has repeatedly said permission cannot be granted as there were possibilities of communal tension and violence around the rallies that are to cover the length and breadth of the state moving through all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies.
After the Calcutta High Court verdict today, the BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh said that the party will inform the state administration every detail of the rallies and the party’s national president Amit Shah will be part of the rallies. Ghosh said the party authorities will now start chalking out the specific routes following the court verdict.
