Kolkata: Cops deny permission for Amit Shah’s rally

The city police on Friday denied permission to the BJP to hold a public meeting scheduled for November 30 in the heart of Kolkata to be addressed by party president Amit Shah. The grounds on which police refused permission appear to be trivial and frivolous.

The city police on Friday denied permission to the BJP to hold a public meeting scheduled for November 30 in the heart of Kolkata to be addressed by party president Amit Shah. The grounds on which police refused permission appear to be trivial and frivolous.

From the rally Shah plans to kick start BJP campaign for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls and elections to about 100 civic bodies.

Incidentally, over the past few years on July 21, Trinamool Congress holds its Martyr Day meeting where chief minister Mamata Banerjee addresses a crowd of a few lakhs.

In a letter on Friday Kolkata Police pointed out deficiencies in BJP’s like absence of measurements of the dais, law and order problem and no mention of the estimated size of the crowd as reasons for turning down the request.

“We are going to court on Monday. What else can be expected from Mamata Banerjee government? They are trying to strangle democracy,” said Rahul Sinha state BJP president.

“This is a thoroughly undemocratic and autocratic government. What can the police do? It’s not an autonomous body. It works directly under the state government,” remarked Samik Bhattacharya, the lone BJP MLA in Bengal.

Interestingly, in a recent interview in Delhi Mamata Banerjee remarked, “Who is Amit Shah?”