No rath-yatra in Bengal for now, Supreme Court asks BJP to address state govt’s apprehensions

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot hold a rath-yatra in West Bengal for now, the Supreme Court has said today, observing that the state government’s apprehensions cannot be said to be “unfounded”.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the BJP to address the apprehensions of the Bengal government, to revise its original plan and to seek a fresh permission.

The state government has said that intelligence reports indicate the rath-yatras may lead to law and order problems and that these had been planned in communally sensitive areas. But the BJP on its part had said that rights to hold rallies and yatras were part of its democratic rights, which the state government had no authority to stop.

Observing both sides of the argument, the apex court has asked the BJP to revise its original plan and submit a fresh application for clearance from the Bengal government. The court has asked the state government to consider the revised schedule keeping in mind the party’s rights in a democracy.

The BJP’s plan had not been cleared by the Bengal government based on the argument that the yatras could lead to law and order problems. The party then moved the Calcutta High Court. After the division bench of the High Court set aside the order of a single-judge bench (that had allowed the rath-yatra), the BJP moved the Supreme Court challenging the order.

The BJP had planned rath-yatras through December 2018 and mid-January 2019 covering all 42 Lok Sabha seats. Three rath-yatras were to be flagged off in early December and these were to criss-cross the state, concluded by a public rally in Kolkata to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

For now, none of these are happening anytime soon. The BJP’s West Bengal unit will have to start making fresh plans and start with another round of seeking permission from the state government.