By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: The Trinamool government in West Bengal on Wednesday banned entry of Praveen Togadia, International president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, claiming it apprehends that his entry will lead to communal tension and disturb public tranquility.
The ban on his entry comes ahead of Togadia’s scheduled rally at North Dinajpur on April 5.
The notice issued by Basudev Banerjee, additional Home Secretary, government of West Bengal, says: “Ex-parte prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Cr PC have been promulgated throughout the state of West Bengal by the respective district magistrates/commissioners of police on March 31, 2015 prohibiting entry of Dr Praveen Bhai Togadia, International Working President of the VHP.”
“These orders have been issued by the respective district magistrates and police commissioners on the basis of information available with them. They apprehend that the entry of Dr Praveen Bhai Togadia, his holding closed door or public meetings / rallies will lead to communal tension and this would cause disturbance of the public tranquility,” the notice read.
This is yet another example of chief minister Mamata Banerjee fighting for her turf as ahead of the assembly elections in 2016, the BJP – and its allied groups such as the VHP – have been aggressively trying to gain electoral space in West Bengal.
However, there is no ban RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat and veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Both attended a programme here this evening to commemorate RSS founder Hedgewar’s birthday celebration.
Praveen Togadia
For Togadia, this is not the first time his entry has been banned anywhere. Earlier in March, he was banned from entering Udipi in Karnataka for Hindu Samajotsav; prior to that in February, his entry was banned for a week in Bengaluru and also in Kandhamal in Odisha.
The TMC government had on January 29 filed separate FIRs against Togadia and another VHP leader Jugal Kishore following a ‘ghar wapsi’ incident in tribal Rampurhat village in Birbhum district of the state. The chief minister had also ordered an inquiry into the incident.