Rath Yatra: Calcutta High Court seeks 3 tentative dates from BJP

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to give three tentative dates for the proposed 'Rath Yatra', news agency ANI reported. The court has also asked  Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress government for the video footage of the meeting held between them and the BJP delegates over the rally on December 13. The next hearing on the matter has been fixed for tomorrow.

West Bengal: Calcutta HC asks BJP to give three tentative dates for the 'Rath Yatra'. Court also asked Advocate General (state government)* for the video footage of the meeting held between BJP delegates & the state government on December 13. Matter fixed for hearing for tomorrow https://t.co/rOvWFM7mxu

— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2018

BJP president Amit Shah was to kickstart the campaign titled ‘Save Democracy Rally’ from the Cooch Behar district in North Bengal on Friday, from Kakdwip in the South 24 Parganas district on December 9, and from Tarapith temple in Birbhum district on December 14.

Earlier, the West Bengal government denied permission for Rath Yatra, citing intelligence reports of possible communal violence in areas where the party was planning to take out the yatra ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled next year.

In a letter to state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, the West Bengal government said it was unable to allow the yatra as intelligence reports indicated that “in several districts, organisations with overtly communal agenda, such as the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, would actively join the yatra. There is a grave apprehension of major breach of peace... during and after the yatra”, the state government said in the letter.

According to the yatra schedule submitted by the BJP, there were plans to hold 158 meetings across West Bengal and the three segments of yatra would cover religious sites. The yatras would continue simultaneously for at least 34 days. 

The BJP moved a division bench of the Calcutta High Court after a single-judge bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty refused permission to the party to hold the yatra. The division bench had on December 7 directed the West Bengal chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police to hold a meeting with three representatives of the BJP by December 12 and take a decision on the ‘rath yatra’ by December 14.