Row over yatra in Bengal

The BJP’s proposed rathyatra covering all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal has become something of a judicial football, being kicked back and forth from a single judge to a division bench and back again. The green signal given by the single judge has been quashed and referred back to the same bench as it may not have considered the concerns expressed in intelligence inputs by state agencies about possible fomenting of communal trouble.

In principle, no march or rally should be stopped. If the State interferes with Opposition rallies by denying permission, even on security and social harmony grounds, the Opposition parties will have to go to court each time to demand their right to hold rallies or protests to criticise the state government or propagate their own programmes. The very idea of democracy will be nullified if such impediments are placed in the path of normal political activities. That is the thing to fear about the stumbling blocks the BJP’s yatra faces.

Each case must also be decided on its merits. The fact that BJP rallies have tended to foment trouble in the past must also be considered, as well as the possible presence of more radical elements from the RSS, its ideological wing, or the Bajrang Dal in such events and disturb the peace in communally-sensitive West Bengal. Of course, state governments are meant to have the wherewithal in terms of police and security forces to ensure law and order is maintained during such activities. But it’s also the duty of political parties not to stoke communal trouble and to punctiliously follow the law.