A division bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam will hear the petition on Thursday. “In our PIL we highlighted that we apprehend there will be a law and order situation following the said rally (Trinamool Congress rally). The rally should be deferred. If not, there should be deployment of paramilitary forces in Bengal on January 22. The matter will be heard tomorrow,” Srijeeb Chakraborty, advocate for Suvendu Adhikari, told The Indian Express.
Earlier, breaking her silence over the invitation for the Ayodhya consecration ceremony, Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief, said that on January 22 she would be in Kolkata, where she would offer prayers at a Kali temple and lead an interfaith rally.
“Pran Prathistha of Lord Ram is not our job. It is the job of seers and sadhus,” the chief minister said. “What will we do going to Ayodhya? As politicians, our job is to make infrastructure, I will do that.”
“Many of you have been asking me about temples. I have nothing to say. I have already said, dharma jar jar, utsav sobar (religion is for oneself, festivals for everyone)… Today I want to tell you that, on that day, I will first visit the Kali mandir, on my own. Then I will do an interfaith rally from Hazra to Park Circus Maidan and hold a meeting there. We will cover mosques, temples, churches and gurdwaras along the way. Everybody is welcome to join the rally. People of all faiths will be there at the rally,” she said, adding that similar rallies would be held by TMC leaders in every district.
Park Circus Maidan is a minority-dominated area.
Speaking to the media later, Adhikari had said, “Through the rally on January 22, she is trying to disturb communal harmony in the state. In every block such rallies have been announced when people of Bengal will celebrate the Ram Mandir. Life and property of the people are at risk. I will ask the governor (CV Ananda Bose) to ask the Centre to deploy central forces in sensitive areas of the state. Earlier, during the Ram Navami rallies, we saw how miscreants attacked and such sensitive areas are known to all.”