Calcutta HC allows BJP to hold 3 'rath yatras' in Bengal; asks Mamata govt to ensure law and order

In a setback to Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal government, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold 'rath yatra' rallies in the state.

The BJP had challenged the state government's denial of permission to its rallies across the state.

The West Bengal government told the High Court that intelligence reports expressing apprehensions of breach of communal harmony were the reason for denial of permission to 'rath yatras'.

Countering the state government's stand, BJP counsel SK Kapoor alleged that the denial of permission was pre-determined and without any basis, adding that "in the worst days of the British period Mahatma Gandhi held the Dandi March and nobody stopped him" but "now the government here says it won't allow a political procession".

On December 6, a single-judge bench of the HC had refused to give permission to the BJP to hold the yatra, which was scheduled to be flagged off by BJP national president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar in North Bengal on December 7, was following which the party had approached the division bench.

The division bench on December 7 asked the West Bengal chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police to hold a meeting with three representatives of the BJP and take a decision on the 'yatra' by December 14.

The state government after parleys with the three-member team had refused permission for the rath yatra on December 15 on the grounds that it might lead to communal tension.

(With PTI inputs)