BJP Seeks Police Permission For Sit-In at Mamata’s Dharna Spot

“If the Trinamool Congress was allowed to organise a dharna there, why can’t we do it?” asked BJP’s Sayantan Basu.

Mamata Banerjee during her dharna. 

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

The BJP's West Bengal unit has sought permission from the Kolkata Police to conduct a dharna later this month at the same spot in the city where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had organised a sit-in demonstration in early February.

The party has already sent a letter to the city police seeking permission for the dharna at the Metro Channel in the heart of the city between 21 and 23 February, BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu told PTI on Monday, 11 February.

An email would also be sent to the police on this matter, he said.

The “Save Democracy” dharna will raise the demand of “restoring democracy in the state”, Basu said.

“If TMC Was Allowed, Why Not BJP?”

Basu said, "Whenever in the past we had asked for permission to organise a sit-in demonstration at the Metro Channel, the police denied us permission citing traffic rules. But if the Trinamool Congress was allowed to organise a dharna there, why can't we do it?"

Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, was on dharna from 3 to 5 February at the Metro channel in Esplanade area to "save the Constitution" after the CBI's failed bid to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund cases.

“We hope that we will also get the permission. We will not use loudspeakers as it is examination time.”

Sayantan Basu

Police ‘Yet to Receive Any Application From BJP’

When contacted, officials of the Kolkata Police said they were yet to receive any such application from the BJP.

"If we receive it, we will take a call," a Kolkata police official said.

The Metro Channel is the same spot where Banerjee had held a 26-day fast against the acquisition of farm land for the Tata Motors small car unit at Singur in 2006.