The Calcutta High Court has refused to grant permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold a rath yatra in West Bengal’s Coochbehar on Friday (December 7).
BJP chief Amit Shah was to flag off the mega rally that was supposed to cover a number of districts across the state.
According to PTI, the rath yatra stands deferred till next date of hearing on January 9, 2019, the Calcutta HC said.
Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya said BJP will move the division bench of Calcutta HC to challenge the single bench order refusing permission to rath yatra.
The state government had earlier denied permission for the rally and argued in court on Thursday that Coochbehar is a sensitive area and the state doesn’t have the machinery to maintain law and order required to manage such a rally.
The government has maintained that the yatra could create communal tension in the area.
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Thursday accused the Trinamool Congress government of trying to scuttle the voice of the opposition and dared it to stop his party’s rath yatra in the state.
The BJP moved the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday claiming the West Bengal administration and the police were not responding to its applications for permission to take out three rallies in the state from December 7.
BJP had planned three different rallies across the state to cover all 42 Parliamentary seats ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The HC bench led by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, however, ruled on Thursday that the BJP’s wish cannot be granted till further hearing on January 9.