A setback for the West Bengal government, but good news for Amit Shah and the BJP. (File photo: Reuters)

The Calcutta High Court today allowed the BJP to hold "rath yatra" rallies in West Bengal. The saffron party had filed a petition challenging the state government's denial of permission for the rallies.

The high court instructed the Trinamool Congress administration to make there's no breach of law and order, and imposed conditions for the yatra. It said the procession shouldn't impede traffic, and that the petitioner (the BJP) would be responsible for any wrongful damage to public property.

It also said district authorities should be be informed at least 12 hours before the yatra begins.

Welcoming the high court verdict, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley congratulated the BJP. "If any NDA/BJP government had stopped an Opposition programme, it would have been called an 'undeclared emergency'. Why silence now?"

If any NDA/BJP Government had stopped an opposition Programme, it would have been called an Undeclared Emergency. Why Silence now? Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 20, 2018





He also questioned the silence of "human rights activists and opposition parties" on the denial of permission to hold the rath yatras by the West Bengal government.

"A slap in the face of tyranny." - Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP

The high court said authorities had passed an order for total exclusion without providing for reasonable restrictions. The threat to public peace should be real and not imaginary or a mere likely possibility, the court said.

"In the worst days of the British period, Mahatma Gandhi held the Dandi march...now the government here says it won't allow a political procession." - BJP's counsel, on December 19

Kailash Vijayvargiya, a national general secretary of the BJP, called today's order a "slap in the face of tyranny". He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah would join the yatra.

On December 7, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court had declined to give the BJP permission to hold the yatra. A day later, a division bench asked the West Bengal chief secretary, the home secretary and the state police chief to meet with three BJP representatives and take a call by December 14.

After the parleys, the Trinamool Congress government refused to allow the yatra on December 15.

On Wednesday, the state government told the Calcutta High Court said the yatra wasn't allowed because there were intelligence reports voicing fears of a breach of communal harmony.

The BJP, on the other hand, said the West Bengal government was trying to forcibly stop it from organising processions.

Inputs from Indrajit Kundu