BJP to Move Court After Kolkata Stadium Cancels Amit Shah’s Event

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal claimed it had nothing to do with cancellation of the event.

BJP President Amit Shah.

(Photo: Reuters)

The BJP on Thursday said it will move court against the alleged cancellation of A booking at a state-owned facility for a party event in Kolkata, president Amit Shah said. The party had on Wednesday alleged that a state-owned indoor stadium, where party president Amit Shah was scheduled to attend a programme next week, had cancelled the booking for the event.

“We will go to the court. They (Mamata Banerjee government) have tried several times to stop me and every time the court has granted permission. We hope the court will allow us this time too. The question of democratic values can be expected only from those who believe it,” he said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal claimed it had nothing to do with it.

On 26 August, we had called up the Netaji Indoor Stadium authorities. They said we were given a pencil (provisional) booking and asked us to come with a no-objection certificate issued by the Kolkata police... But on 30 August, we were told that the stadium was booked for the entire month, except for the Durga Puja days between 26-30 September.

Sayantan Basu, BJP General Secretary

TMC sources claimed that the booking for the BJP chief's event at the stadium or its cancellation had nothing to do with any of its ministers or leaders.

The development came a day after a row erupted over the cancellation of booking for an 3 October event, which was to be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, by a state-run auditorium.

The move to cancel the booking was condemned by the RSS, but the auditorium authorities said renovation and repair work would be undertaken around that time and therefore the facility cannot be provided due to "safety and security reasons".

This is not the first time that such a move was taken. Earlier also, the West Bengal government had done this. We condemn this move.

Jishnu Basu, RSS spokesperson in West Bengal

A spokesperson of the Sister Nivedita 150th birth anniversary celebrations committee, which had booked Mahajati Sadan for the programme, claimed that the auditorium authorities had accepted the booking in June.

But last week, officials of the auditorium first said that we need police permission. When we informed them that we have already informed the police about the programme, they said that renovation work will be undertaken in the auditorium during the time and our programme could not take place there.

Rantidev Sengupta, general secretary of the celebration committee

The bookings for other organisations during that time have also been cancelled due to the renovation work, sources from the auditorium said.

Regarding the issue, Kolkata police tweeted:

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In January this year, the city police had denied permission for Bhagwat’s rally in the city. However, the decision was later overruled by the High Court.

Back in December 2014, VHP was not given a go ahead by the police for a rally which was to be addressed by Bhagwat. Here too, the denial of permission was overturned by the high court.

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