Rath yatra row: State BJP files caveat in top court
It observed that the state government's silence on the permission to the BJP mega event was astonishing and astounding.
Kolkata: The state BJP has filed a caveat in Supreme Court anticipating that the Mamata Banerjee government may also move the top court, dissatisfied with the order by a division bench of the Calcutta high court which has directed it to take a decision on the party’s grand rally, rath yatra, which was scheduled to get underway this month.
On Saturday, state BJP spokesperson Sayantan Basu said, “It seems the state government still did not like the observations of the division bench of the high court. It also appears that they may move to the apex court. We have filed a caveat in SC so that our version is also heard and no interim ruling is passed after an one-sided hearing.”
He added, “If the state government moves the SC, the highest court will have to pay heed to us also. We have postponed our event respecting the order of the high court’s division bench till December 14. If the state government does not take any decision by December 14, our party will launch agitation in the districts from the very next day.”
Mr Basu elaborated, “If they give us the necessary permission within the deadline, we will undertake our rally from December 16 under the leadership of either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP president Amit Shah.” The Trinamul has not yet reacted to the BJP’s move. The BJP’s move came a day after the division bench of Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice A. Mukherjee of the high court pulled up the Trinamul Congress-ruled stated government for not responding to the BJP’s letters seeking permission for its Rath Yatra rally in the state.
It observed that the state government’s silence on the permission to the BJP mega event was “astonishing and astounding.” Directing the top officials of the state government to take a decision on the Rath Yatra by December 14 the division bench tasked its chief secretary, home secretary and the director general of police to hold a meeting with three BJP representatives by December 12 and take a decision by December 14.
On December 6, the Calcutta high court turned down the BJP’s petition to allow the party to hold rath yatra which was scheduled to be flagged off by BJP national president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar in North Bengal on December 7. It had also deferred the programme till January 9 Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty observed that reports need to be sought from the superintendents of police of all districts as the event will cover 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.