No Rath Yatra in Bengal at present: SC
New Delhi, Jan 15 (IBNS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere in the West Bengal government's decision to ban holding a rath yatra by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
During the hearing into the case, the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the apprehension of violence as was stated by the state government for not holding the rally was not unfounded.
However, the court said that the party can hold normal rallies in the state.
The apex court gave its order while it was hearing a petition of the BJP challenging an order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court.
The High Court, in its order, had earlier set aside a ruling of a single-judge bench allowing the procession.
Reacting to the verdict, BJP leader Sayantan Basu told IBNS: "In a way the court has upheld our demands to approach the state government for rallies as well as yatra. The state government was not allowing us to hold rallies even. Our demand has been granted. In one way it is a big win for us. We will sit and discuss our next course of action tomorrow."
The BJP has planned to take out three yatras from Cooch Behar, Namkhana and Tarapith covering all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the eastern state of India.
The yatra has led to a major face-off between the BJP and ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) with few months prior to the 2019 General Elections.
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