Calcutta High Court allows BJP to hold rally on site used by TMC, says all political parties must be treated equally

The Calcutta High Court on Friday allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to proceed with the conduct of a political rally on November 29 near Victoria House, Kolkata, overruling objections by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led State government in the matter [State of West Bengal vs Jagannath Chattopadhyay]..A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said the decision of the West Bengal government to deny permission for the BJP rally twice was arbitrary.In this regard, the Court noted that the BJP's general secretary, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, had applied for permission to hold the rally well in advance. The Court also noted that only the TMC, the ruling party in the State, always used the rally site, near Victoria House at Kolkata's Esplanade, to conduct its meetings every year on July 21 to observe the 'Martyrs Day' and to mark the death anniversary of 13 workers from the party."You see your advisory. It says one can apply within two to three weeks. They applied within time. You are unnecessarily trying to precipitate a problem. Either you allow them or else we can do one thing, we will ban the annual July 21 rally too. No rally, no event, no protest. We will ban everything. The solution is, let everybody be treated equally. This action of yours is arbitrary," the Chief Justice observed today..The State said BJP rally in the capital city may cause public inconvenience but the bench went on to note that rallies, protests and political meetings are common in West Bengal, particularly in Kolkata. "I find it very common that such protests/rallies take place and no one considers the inconvenience to the citizens. Even during Chhat Puja entire road was blocked. Till yesterday there were blockings, etc, due to drum beating. This is a common phenomenon in West Bengal," the Chief Justice said..The bench also questioned whether the advisory of the Kolkata police against the conduct of rallies on short notice or in certain areas was being properly followed by organisations that share their ideologies with the ruling dispensation."If you get those statistics, it would amount to washing dirty linen in public. This is unnecessary. You are adding importance to their issue by giving it a colour. If your advisory is so wonderfully implemented we will pass an order stating that no such event or rally will be allowed at any corner of any public space," the Court remarked. .The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the West Bengal government challenging an order of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who had allowed the BJP to hold its rally on November 29. The single-judge had pulled up the Kolkata Police for mechanically denying permission for the rally through computer-generated, email rejections..While challenging this single-judge verdict before a division bench, Senior Advocate Kishore Datta (appearing for the State) pointed out that the BJP rally is expected to be attended by over 10,000 persons and that over 200 vehicles are likely to be parked at the site. The Court, however, replied that the State is only giving undue importance to the event by protesting against its conduct. "Please don't give so much importance to this event and make it popular. You doing so will make the 10,000 people to 1 lakh. Do not make this a political issue and popularise this event," the bench said before upholding Justice Mantha's order..This is not the first time that the High Court has pulled up the State for disallowing the BJP or other political parties to hold political rallies.In August this year, the High Court had said that there must be a level playing field for all the political ideologies in the State.