A tight security cover is in place in Kolkata as student organisation Paschim Banger Chhatra Samaj gears up to march to the state secretariat, Nabanna, on Tuesday. However, West Bengal Police said the march was illegal as no organisation has sought permission and there was a possibility of violence.
The Paschim Banger Chhatra Samaj and another organisation ‘Sangrami Joutha Mancha’ have called for the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ seeking the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. The organisers said the rally would be peaceful and hit out at the ruling Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Police for their allegations.
Chhatra Samaj spokesperson Sayan Lahiri told reporters that the allegations of disruptions were baseless. Adding that they are marching to demand the CM’s resignation due to her failure to prevent incidents like the RG Kar case, Lahiri said the rallies, which will start from College Square, Fort William, and Santragachhi at noon and move towards Nabanna.
The march was organised by an apolitical platform and denied any affiliations to the BJP, RSS, or ABVP.
“We have informed police about the rally via email and discussed it with senior officers multiple times. The allegations that our rally is illegal are untrue,” he said, adding that since the movement was organised through a social media campaign, they cannot provide an exact estimate.
However, the West Bengal police denied the claims and said that the rally was illegal. ADG (Law and Order) Manoj Verma told reports earlier that no permission was sought for the rally by any organisers and only emails were sent informing the police about the programme. However, permission to hold the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ was not granted to them for several reasons, Verma added.
“We have learned about the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally through various media channels and social media. To date, neither any individual nor organisation has applied for permission, making the event illegal,” Verma said. He added that Nabanna was a restricted area as prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS are in force near the secretariat preventing the assembly of five or more people.
Additional director-general of police (south Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said “mere intimation” of the rally was not enough and the permission for the rally was denied.
Verma added that the police had intelligence that there would be trouble during the rally as this was “a sinister political conspiracy” disguised as a students’ protest. The intention was to create mayhem and violence.
Sarkar too added that they had information that some miscreants were planning to take advantage of the emotions of people and create chaos, thereby pushing police to use force.
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