KOLKATA: CPI-M heaved a sigh of relief after the Calcutta High Court on Thursday approved the party to set up its book stalls during the ongoing Durga Puja festivities across West Bengal.
On Thursday, the High Court, while hearing the case, announced that the CPI-M could set up its book stall within a 100-metre range of the Durga Puja pandal along Jessore Road in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas district, in the state.
The court has also directed the state government to make adequate police arrangements at the Bongaon Durga Puja festival site to keep the law and order situation normal. The superintendent of police of the district has also been asked to submit a report in this regard to the court.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya issued this directive while hearing the petition over the denial of permission for temporary stalls selling mainly Marxist and progressive literary works during Durga Puja in Naihati and Bongaon in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal.
“Approval for setting up of the stall was not given to the petitioners while others were given clearances on the same issue. It’s not justified. The petitioners were not given permission to set up book stalls at a time when others have set up stalls and are selling items. It’s good for democracy when different political ideologies are given importance. I hope the administration will take this into account,” Justice Bhattacharyya observed on Thursday.
Senior advocate Bikashranjan Bhattacharya, appearing for the petitioners, argued that this specific case was not related to any land issue. But as common citizens or as a political party, some petitioners had moved the court to protect their constitutional rights. It was entirely an issue related to maintaining law and order and deploying adequate security arrangements, he said.
While making a counterargument, the state advocate general, Surojit Nath Mitra, presented the government’s stand on the issue, raising questions and saying, “What will the administration do if someone suddenly claims to set up a construction on land owned by some other person and demands security from the police? The petitioners know very well that the necessary approval is a must for doing something.”
The High Court on Wednesday had questioned the police for not allowing the CPI-M to set up book stalls during Durga Puja and advised that dissenting voices not be suppressed.
“It is not right to allow one party and deny permission to others. The voice of an Opposition political party should not be suppressed in this manner. They are not setting up a lottery shop; they want to sell books. What is the problem?” Justice Bhattacharyya had observed, questioning the denial of permission to the CPM to set up book stalls despite the party's nearly six-decade-old tradition of doing so during festivals.
The judge was hearing a petition filed by the CPM against the police for denying it permission to set up stalls on Jessore Road while allowing the RSS-affiliated Hindu Jagran Manch to set up stalls.
Justice Bhattacharyya observed that the state should “not stifle the voice of other parties, as that is not the spirit of democracy”.
CPIM advocate Samim Ahammed had alleged that the CPIM Bongaon unit had approached the police and other authorities for permission, but members of the Hindu Jagran Manch had prevented it from setting up the stall on October 6. He claimed that the Manch had been allowed to erect a stall in front of the CPM’s party office, but the CPM was denied space for its stall.
The advocate general and additional advocate general argued that the CPIM had applied to the Bongaon subdivisional administration but had not approached the PWD, which owns the land. They argued that the case was not concerned with police inaction or excessive action.
Earlier on Monday, the court had verbally suggested that the CPI-M could set up its book stalls during Kali Puja instead of Durga Puja while hearing the petition.
The petitioners had told the court that they had been putting up book stalls at the two locations during the Durga Puja festivities for the past five decades.
The CPI(M)'s cultural wings traditionally set up book stalls near pandals across West Bengal during Durga Puja.
Triggering a political slugfest in September, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had asked Durga Puja committees not to allow CPI(M)'s book stalls near pandals if they used the term 'Sharodotsav' to describe the festivities and diminish the religious character of 'Durga Puja'.
While speaking in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on September 10, Suvendu had asked Durga Puja committees across the state not to allow CPI(M) book stalls outside pandals if the party referred to the festival as 'Sharodotsav' instead of 'Durga Puja', saying the term minimised its religious character.
Suvendu had accused sections of the Left of selectively targeting 'Sanatan Dharma' and the saffron colour, and urged puja committees to prevent such book stalls from operating.
"A section of professors, who are so-called Leftists, are attacking 'Sanatanis'. They are selectively targeting the saffron colour. I would ask all Durga Puja committees that if the Communists write 'Sharodotsav' (autumn festival) instead of 'Durga Puja' at the book stalls they set up, they should not be allowed to operate," he had said.
The CPI(M) and its affiliates set up book stalls near Durga Puja pandals every year, selling Marxist and progressive literature, party publications and other books, while using the festival to reach out to people.
In 1954, the first such CPI(M)-associated book stall was set up in Park Circus on the initiative of veteran Communist leader Muzaffar Ahmed.
The practice became particularly significant as party workers and local leaders were generally discouraged from directly participating in religious events.
After the Left Front's defeat in 2011, such red-cloth stalls became less common during the Trinamool Congress regime in the state, though they continued to be organised at select locations.
The Chief Minister had said his objection was not to the sale of books during the festival but to what he described as an attempt to deny or minimise its religious character through the use of the term 'Sharodotsav', literally meaning autumn festival.
The CPI-M leadership plans to put up around 110 stalls in Kolkata, as it did last year, triggering a confrontation with the ruling BJP, which is looking to widen its presence during the Durga Puja festival across the state.