The Calcutta High Court has pulled up Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government over their decision to fix Durga idol immersion time which coincided with the Taazia procession during Muharram. The Calcutta High Court drew parallels between West Bengal Police and Maharashtra Police in terms of handling festivals of different communities falling on the same day, which didn’t go down quite well with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
As per matters of the case, citing law and order issues, Mamata Banerjee government had earlier announced that no Durga idol immersion could take place after 6 pm on 30th September till 1st October due to Muharram procession.
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This announcement hadn’t gone too well with people who accused her of minority appeasement. Following the announcement, a PIL was filed in the Calcutta High Court which claimed that the announcement had hurt the religious sentiments of the majority community.
During the hearing, the judges asked how many Muharram procession requests were granted during the said period. Turns out only two organisers had sought permission for the Taazia procession during Muharram. The Court found it surprising that only for two processions, the government had stalled the entire Durga Puja immersion ceremony.
This is not the first time the Calcutta High Court has pulled up Mamata Banerjee government. Earlier too, Calcutta High Court had pulled up West Bengal Government for setting time limit for Durga idol immersion as “arbitrary” and “clever endeavour” by the state to “appease the minority”.