Calcutta High Court denies permission to BJP's rath yatra in West Bengal

The Calcutta High Court has denied permission to BJP to hold a rath yatra from Coochbehar, which was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah.

The Calcutta High Court has denied permission to BJP to hold a rath yatra from Coochbehar, which was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah. Photo: PTI (File)

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court has on Thursday denied permission to BJP to hold a rath yatra from Coochbehar, a day before it was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah. The court on Thursday deferred the rath yatra till next date of hearing on January 9, 2019. BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said his party will move division bench of Calcutta HC challenging the single bench order. The West Bengal government has refused permission to Amit Shah's proposed 'rath yatra' on grounds that it might cause communal tension, the state's advocate general informed the Calcutta High Court. The state submitted that it might cause communal tension. Asked by the judge who will take responsibility if anything untoward happens, BJP counsel Anindya Mitra submitted it is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order. The advocate general opposed the BJP filing a supplementary affidavit opposing the refusal of permission, saying it can either come with a fresh petition or an amendment to his petition. The BJP campaign was scheduled to begin from Coochbehar district in the north on December 7, from Kakdwip in the South 24 Parganas district on December 9, and from the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district on December 14. "The Rath Yatra will be a game changer in West Bengal politics. This will kickstart a wave of support in favour of the BJP and will become a deciding factor in the next general elections," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had said on Wednesday. This was for the first time that the BJP had undertaken a political campaign of such a huge magnitude, covering nearly 10,000 kms, in the state. Three air-conditioned buses decorated as chariots carrying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were to criss-cross the entire state for nearly 40 days starting from December 7, covering all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, several top BJP leaders and chief ministers such as Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Raman Singh, Yogi Adityanath, Uma Bharati and Giriraj Singh were to participate in the campaign.