The Calcutta High Court has stayed an earlier order allowing the CPM to set up a book stall near its party office on Jessore Road in Bongaon, North 24-Parganas, after the party failed to produce permission documents from the site’s landowner or the police.
A division bench led by Chief Justice R.V. Ghuge issued the interim stay on Friday, a day after Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had permitted the CPM to set up the stall. The division bench said it could not allow the stall to operate without papers establishing permission from the landowner or the police.
The court will resume hearing the matter on January 21. CPM counsel Samim Ahammed said the order applied only to the Bongaon stall and did not affect other book stalls run by the party across Bengal. He also said the division bench had directed the removal of a Hindu Jagran Manch stall in Bongaon if it did not have the required permission.
The court proceedings came as leaders of several Left parties met to protest what they described as attacks on their book stalls and pledged to rebuild and reopen them. The meeting was attended by leaders of the CPM, CPI, Forward Bloc, RSP, CPI(ML)-Liberation and SUCI(C), among others.
CPM state secretary Md Salim alleged that book stalls had been attacked in Dhakuria, Kasba, Behala, Howrah, Birati, Naihati, Entally and Kanchrapara. He accused RSS and BJP workers of vandalising or setting fire to stalls, allegations that the BJP has denied. Salim said Left parties had operated such stalls during festivals for years and alleged that the attacks amounted to an assault on free thought and democratic expression. He also said the administration should focus on maintaining law and order during the festival period.
At least three CPM stalls were allegedly vandalised on Friday at Bijpur, Palta and Entally. A stall at Charapole More in Bijpur was allegedly ransacked and set on fire on Thursday night, while another at Santinagar in Palta was allegedly vandalised early on Friday. The CPM rebuilt the Palta stall, according to the report.
The BJP has rejected the allegations of involvement. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said the party had no connection with the attackers and claimed that the CPM had angered many people during its 34-year rule in Bengal. The BJP has also denied allegations that its workers were involved in the alleged assault on 89-year-old CPI(ML)-Liberation leader Amalendu Chowdhury in Dhakuria.
A separate dispute was reported in Cooch Behar’s Sitai, where an All India Forward Bloc book stall promoting the life and ideology of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was allegedly vandalised before Durga Puja. Forward Bloc leader and former MP Nripen Roy blamed members of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha, while BJP leader Deepak Roy denied the allegation. Police have increased security arrangements in the area.
The immediate legal question in the Bongaon case is whether the CPM can establish the permissions required to use the site. The next hearing on January 21 is expected to determine the subsequent course of the dispute.
