The Calcutta High Court Thursday allowed BJP's 'Rath Yatra' programme in West Bengal, setting aside the state government's decision to refuse permission for the rallies over apprehensions of communal unrest.
Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty in his order noted that courts can interfere if administrative authorities exercise their discretionary powers in a whimsical manner.
Following the court order, the BJP came up with tentative new dates from December 28 to 31 for its proposed three-phase programme.
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that though the dates have not been finalised, the Rath Yatra, which is now christened the 'Ganatantra Bachao Yatra' (Save Democracy Rally), will be held as per its earlier schedule and move across all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
"We welcome the court's verdict... Today we had a meeting with the party functionaries. The tentative new dates (for the Rath Yatra) are December 28, 29 and 31. Nothing has been finalised as of now. We will inform the state government about it," Vijayvargiya said.
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According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources party national president Amit Shah will flag off the three yatras in the state.
Welcoming the order, the BJP hit out the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for denying permission for its rallies and also questioned the "silence" of opposition on the issue.
"Why are human rights activists and opposition parties silent on denial of a right to a political party to organise its programme in West Bengal. If any NDA/BJP Government had stopped an opposition programme, it would have been called an Undeclared Emergency. Why silence now?" BJP leader and Union Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted.
West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh hailed the HC order and said that the programme will begin "very soon" and will be held according to "schedule".
Ghosh said, "We thank the court for its verdict. It is a historic one. The Gantantra Bachao Yatra will start very soon and will be held as per schedule."
"I can assure that there will be no breach of law and order from our part," he added.
Reacting to BJP's programme, the ruling TMC said that it was being held to ignite communal passions in the state before the Lok Sabha election.
"The sole intention of BJP is to create communal tensions in the state to divide the people on religious lines," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
The West Bengal government had on Saturday refused permission for BJP's 'Rath Yatra', citing intelligence reports of possible communal violence in areas where the party was planning to take out the rallies.
Justice Chakraborty directed the state BJP to inform the superintendents of police of the districts in which the rallies shall enter at least 12 hours ahead of schedule.
The court also told the state BJP to ensure that the 'yatras' are conducted abiding the law and do not impede normal movement of vehicular traffic.
It further directed the police to deploy adequate force to ensure that there was no breach of law and order and said the petitioner BJP will be vicariously responsible for any damage or loss of public property.
Justice Chakraborty said that as the yatras were not for any unlawful purpose, they ought not to be totally prohibited unless there was imminent threat of breach of peace and even then, the restraint should be just and reasonable.
Observing that the petitioner was mechanically denied permission to organise the yatras, the court said that reliance has been placed on intelligence reports by the administration for such denial, but names of the districts have not been disclosed.
The court also noted that the BJP had written several letters to different administrative and police officers from October 29 for consultations for the Rath Yatra, but none were responded to.
Allowing the BJP rallies, Justice Chakraborty observed that the officials concerned did not have sufficient material to totally deny permission to the petitioner to organise the rallies, without even making an endeavour as to whether the yatras can be allowed by imposing reasonable restrictions.
According to the original schedule submitted by the BJP, Shah was to launch the campaign-- 'Save Democracy Rally' from Cooch Behar district on December 7, from Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas on December 9 and from Tarapith temple in Birbhum on December 14.
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