SC Asks Mamata Govt Why It Has Denied Permission To BJP For Rath Yatras

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 Ravi Subramaniam

INDIA’S Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a clear cut response from the West Bengal government headed by Mamata Banerjee as to why the Bharatiya Janata Party -BJP–was denied permission to take out Rath Yatra in the eastern state. The State unit of the BJP has challenged the December 21 order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court setting aside the order of a single-judge bench permitting the procession which BJP claims as it is the party’s democratic rights .The Supreme Court’s Bench headed by Justice S K Kaul also asked the BJP state unit to submit a revised plan for its “Save Democracy Rally” for consideration by the state government. The matter will be taken up for hearing on January 15 on receipt of response from the state government and BJP.The rally is proposed to cover all the 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state ahead of general elections. In its plea, the BJP has said that their fundamental right to hold a peaceful yatra cannot be withheld.The party had planned to launch the yatra from three districts of the state.Calcutta High Court’s division bench had sent the case back to a single-judge bench to hear it afresh and also to consider the intelligence inputs by state agencies. The order of the division bench had come after hearing an appeal moved by the West Bengal government challenging the order of the single-judge bench.The rallies were scheduled to be flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah from North Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on December 7, Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas on December 9, and from Tarapith temple in Birbhum on December 14.The BJP has contended that authorities cannot abridge their right and they have a duty to facilitate them in exercising their democratic right.The BJP has alleged in the plea that the state government was repeatedly “attacking” the fundamental rights of citizens due to which different petitions have been filed challenging the activities of the state government in denying permission to different organisations.