A BJP victory rally in central Kolkata on Monday has triggered a political dispute over whether a public meeting was permitted near Victoria House, an area where police had previously cited a court order to deny permission for gatherings. The rally also became an early campaign platform for the Kolkata and Howrah civic elections.
The procession began outside the BJP’s former state office on Muralidhar Sen Lane in north Kolkata and was led by West Bengal Chief Minister Shuvendu Adhikari, state BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya and national general secretary Sunil Bansal. The rally was organised to celebrate the party’s victories in the Nandigram and Rejinagar by-elections.
The procession ended near Income Tax House, close to Victoria House, where a temporary stage had been erected for speeches. Adhikari used the gathering to call for what he described as a “triple engine” government in Kolkata and Howrah, following the BJP’s “double engine” formulation for governments led by the same party at the Centre and in a state.
“Modiji’s words led you to give a double engine. Now, at the Chief Minister’s request, you must give a triple engine. Give Howrah and Kolkata,” Adhikari said, according to Anandabazar. He also appealed to supporters to elect BJP representatives in every ward.
The venue prompted criticism from the Trinamool Congress. The party said police had refused permission for its annual 21 July gathering at the same location this year, citing a 2018 court case and an order restricting assemblies in the area. Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh questioned how the BJP had been allowed to build a stage there when his party leaders had allegedly faced a police complaint after measuring the road near the proposed venue with a tape.
“How was the BJP allowed to build a stage there? If gatherings are prohibited there by court order, with whose permission did the BJP build the stage?” Ghosh asked. Senior Trinamool leader Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay said the episode reflected a competition to violate the law, alleging that the ruling party could do as it wished because it was in government.
The BJP rejected the criticism. Tamoghna Ghosh, president of the party’s north Kolkata organisational district, said Trinamool leaders had become irrelevant after being rejected by voters and dismissed their comments.
The rally also featured claims about the social composition of the BJP’s support in the two by-elections. Bhattacharya and Adhikari said minority voters had supported the party, with Bhattacharya presenting the results as evidence of a shift away from one-party political dominance. Adhikari referred to the BJP’s performance in the minority-dominated Rejinagar constituency, where he said the Trinamool candidate lost the deposit.
Bhattacharya also claimed that the absence of violence, booth capture, bomb attacks and attacks on candidates during the by-elections demonstrated a political change in West Bengal. These remarks were part of the BJP leaders’ speeches at the rally and were not independently assessed in the report.
The immediate institutional question now concerns the permission granted for the gathering and the interpretation of the restrictions that Trinamool leaders cited. The report does not include a police statement or the text of the court order. The BJP’s rally nevertheless places the management of political assemblies in central Kolkata alongside the emerging contest for control of the city’s civic wards.
