The Calcutta High Court on Friday imposed restrictions on rallies for next Monday, July 21, the most important day in the ruling Trinamool’s calendar.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of the high court allowed rallies till 8am, Monday, while instructing the Kolkata Police to ensure office-goers are not hassled during the peak hours on the first day of the week.
Any rally or marches in the city would have to be ended wherever it is as soon as the clock strikes 9. Rallies will be allowed to resume after 11am.
The annual July 21 meet where Mamata Banerjee is the main speaker is held next to Victoria House, the CESC office, at Esplanade.
The city police chief Manoj Verma has been instructed to ensure roads leading to the Calcutta High Court, and roads in a five km radius of central Kolkata will have to be kept free for traffic movement.
On Thursday, hearing a petition filed by the All India Lawyers Union, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh had asked, for how long the people of Kolkata would have to bear with hardships.
A protest march to Writers’ Buildings, the seat of power from the Raj days to the Left rule, on July 21, 1993 for voter cards with photographs turned violent. Mamata Banerjee, then an MP and the head of the Congress’ youth wing had called the protest march.
Bullets fired by cops left 13 people dead, most of them Congress workers. From her days in the Congress, till she formed the Trinamool Congress, and her eventual rise to power, Ekushe July has been a both a political and emotional platform for Mamata.
The AILU, which is associated with the mainstream Left parties, had filed a petition saying that the Kolkata Police restricts the area for the opposition citing traffic issues, but grants permission to the ruling Trinamool.
The state advocate general Kishore Dutta and the Trinamool’s counsel had referred to the petition as politically motivated.
During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Ghosh had suggested to the Trinamool’s counsel to consider options like the Brigade Parade ground as the venue next year.
In 2011, barely months after coming to power, Mamata had addressed the July 21 rally at the Brigade Parade ground. After that the venue once again moved back to its original site.