The Calcutta High Court today dismissed all attempts and objections put up by the Trinamool Congress Government to block a BJP rally on 29 November which Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to attend.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to hold a mega rally in front of Victoria House in Esplanade on 29 November, the same venue in which the Trinamool Congress has been holding its annual Martyrs Day rally on 21 July since 1994.
The Calcutta High Court division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya upheld the single bench order passed on 20 November and dismissed the petition by the State Government against the rally. The State Government had approached the High Court division bench after a single-judge bench judgement by Justice Raj Shekhar Mantha had ruled in favour of the BJP.
The Chief Justice noted that though the State Government had objected to the proposed rally by the BJP citing fears of widespread disruption in the city, the ruling Trinamool Congress holds several rallies as well as its annual Shaheed Diwas (Martyrs Day) mega-rally on 21 July at the same venue in front of Victoria House in central Kolkata.
The High Court noted that the Kolkata Police advisory said applications need to be made two to three weeks prior to the programme. The BJP had filed its application 23 days prior to the scheduled event. The bench also observed that processions, rallies and meetings are a “regular feature in the State of West Bengal and more particularly in Kolkata”.
The Chief Justice admonished the State counsel Kishore Dutta for his repeated objections and asked him “not to complicate matters unnecessarily”. The Chief Justice said that if the State Government had so many objections to a rally at the Victoria House venue, then the court would pass a blanket ban on all rallies, including the Trinamool Congress’ Martyrs Day rally on 21 July.
The division bench also noted several instances which have come to the notice of the court where rallies, meetings and agitations have been held for which no permission has been obtained.
“This is a historical verdict given by the High Court. I had predicted that the West Bengal Government would have to face the consequences as it was illegally trying to stop the BJP program. We thank the judiciary,” said West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar. The BJP MLA hailed the verdict, saying: “This is a victory for us…. Is this Afghanistan or Pakistan that only Mamata Banerjee will hold rallies…?”
Earlier, the single-judge bench of the High Court had pulled up the Kolkata Police on 20 November for denying permission for the BJP rally in Kolkata twice without any apparent reason and by way of computer-generated responses.
This came after the BJP claimed in a petition that a previous application to organise the meeting on 28 November had also been rejected on the ground that it was not made within the stipulated time frame.
On 20 November, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, presiding over the case, emphasised the principles of a free country, stating that the police authorities should indeed grant permission for the meeting on the specified date. However, he acknowledged the police’s right to impose reasonable restrictions, which could be communicated to the organisers.