Rath yatra row: Supreme Court declines BJP permission to hold 'Save Democracy Rally' in West Bengal, but allows meetings

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to go ahead with its proposed rath yatra in West Bengal. However, the bench said the BJP to could conduct meetings and rallies in the state.

The matter went to court after the West Bengal government denied the party permission to hold the rath yatra in the state.

SC refused to give a go ahead for the BJP's Yatra in West Bengal. The Apex Court, however, said that the BJP state unit can conduct meetings and rallies. SC said, if BJP comes out with a revised plan of fresh Yatra, that may be considered afresh later. pic.twitter.com/TbvYiRQply

— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2019

On 8 January, the apex court had issued a notice to the West Bengal government  after hearing the state BJP unit’s plea against a Calcutta High Court order disallowing it from organising the Rath Yatra in West Bengal. The Mamata Banerjee government was given two weeks to respond to the matter.

A bench headed by Justice SK Kaul had also asked the BJP’s Bengal unit to submit a revised plan for its rallies for consideration by the state government. On Tuesday, as well, the Supreme Court said if the BJP came up with a revised plan, it might consider it afresh.

The top court, on 3 January, had agreed to hear the BJP plea against the Calcutta High Court’s 21 December order, which had set aside the order of a single-judge bench allowing the rally.

The party had then approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to hold the “Save Democracy Rally”, which would cover all the constituencies in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections.