There was a judicial setback for Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari as the Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed his plea seeking deferment of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Sarva Dharma Sampriti Yatra or All Religion Harmony Rally on January 22 the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Adhikari had earlier moved the Court seeking deferment of the harmony rally and deployment of forces apprehending communal disturbance.
Saying that the petitioner himself had on several occasions approached the Court seeking permissions for rallies, the Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam however said that it was the duty of the State administration to ensure that the common public was not affected.
The Court also turned down the plea seeking deploy of central forces but imposed certain conditions on the organizers of the rally.
The Court said, “no speech shall be made hurting the sentiments of people belonging to a religion or sect. All participants of the rally shall be sensitized. If any violation occurs then organizers may be held responsible.”
Earlier after filing the petition Adhikari had said that it was alarming that the Chief Minister had asked her party cadres to descend on the streets to stage a so-called rally for harmony. “This has been done by her to win back the confidence of the fast alienating Muslim voters … now in the name of ensuring peace she wants her party to fan communal disturbance so that she can emerge as the savior of the minorities and win back their confidence … this is a big conspiracy being hatched by her … this is alarming not only for the administration or police but also for the people of Bengal in general,” Adhikari said.
“The lives and properties of the people of Bengal is in great danger … and the TMC is planning to fan a communal disturbance which is why the Chief Minister has decided not only to confine the rally to Kolkata but carry it out in the districts and at block levels … we will have to stop it at all cost,” he maintained.
The Chief Minister had on Tuesday announced that she would lead a Harmony Rally which would start from Kalighat near her residence and end at Park Circus Maidan a locality dominated by a particular community.
Before embarking on the rally she would offers prayers at the iconic Kalighat Temple Banerjee said --- dropping an apparent message that Devi Shakti (Mother Goddess) was essentially the presiding deity of Bengal which she had often iterated in her previous speeches. Banerjee said that the rally would pass various places of worships from different religions.
Meanwhile, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar attacked the Chief Minister for failing to pay obeisance to Lord Ram by refusing to visit Ayodhya during the inauguration of the Ram Temple.
“Lord Ram will never forgive Mamata Banerjee and she will feel the consequence for disregarding the God of all Hindus … she was invited to Ayodhya to take part in the inauguration ceremony of Ram Temple but she refused the invitation … but on the same day she is getting enough time to take out political rallies in the garb of so-called harmony rally … all to appease a section of people and stop erosion in her minority vote bank,” Majumdar said.