Another shot it appears has been fired in the slugfest between TMC and RSS in West Bengal. Organisers of an event at the state-run Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata, cancelled the booking where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was supposed to speak, reported several media outlets.
The Sister Nivedita Mission Trust had booked the auditorium for October 3 for an event on Sister Nivedita’s role in the Indian nationalist movement.
General secretary of the Trust, Rantideb Sengupta, told The Indian Express that the authorities cancelled the booking last Thursday despite all formalities being done.
He said: “We had booked the auditorium in July after paying Rs 14,350. We also paid another Rs 1,150 as October 3 is a holiday. We even intimated Joint CP Headquarters of Kolkata Police about our event. Suddenly, on August 31, authorities of Mahajati Sadan told us that the booking was cancelled. They told us to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Kolkata Police. While we were about to obtain the NOC from police, the authorities on September 1 informed us that the auditorium was unavailable as it would be under maintenance in the first week of October.”
Authorities of Mahajati Sadan were unavailable for comments, and Sengupta said they were looking for a different venue. Sources told IE that the event was cancelled due to the timing of the event close to Vijaya Dashami and Muharram on September 30 and October 1 respectively which has the state government on the lookout for anything that might blow up the communal tinderbox.
Meanwhile, RSS secretary Jishu Bas accused the state of being run by ‘fundamentalists’. In January, Kolkata Police had denied permission for Bhagwat’s rally but the Calcutta High Court had overruled the decision.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan put aside political differences to criticise the Banerjee government, saying a ‘gross injustice was meted out’.
TMC national spokesperson Derek O'Brien also took to Twitter to speak about the event and hit out at 'NK channels' (North Korea channels) for 'trying to cook up a story'.
The Mamata government has also decided to ban Visarjan on October 1, something BJP and RSS have strongly protested against.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata police said that the reason for denial was 10-day early reservation during Puja holidays.
Earlier, Mamata Banerejee had directed the state’s police administration to act against anyone who participated in ‘shashtra puja’. She had said: “Weapons look best in the hands of Durga. So ensure that there is no attempt of creating tension on Vijaya Dashami day through ‘shastra puja’ or any procession with arms.”
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