Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay & Mouparna Bandyopadhyay

Kolkata, April 10: Trust the comrades in this city to champion dissent and then clamp down on it — to please Beijing.

Two weeks after it allowed Tibetan activists to hold a candlelight vigil, the CPM-led West Bengal Government has denied them permission to hold a three-day anti-China public rally scheduled to begin today forcing them to go indoors.

Ironically, there were as many as 11 rallies in the city during the day. These included a rally by the Trinamool in Park Circus to protest against the state government’s failure to check prices and a similar one by CPM supporters in Tollygunge to protest against inflation.

“We are shocked and depressed by the government’s decision. It is a democratic country and there is no bar on holding peaceful, democratic protests and rallies,” said D Dorjee, spokesperson for the Tibetan solidarity sub-committee for Kolkata, an outfit of Tibetan students and businessmen in the city.

Praise came from Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Mao Siwei. “This is a correct decision because the Government of India made a commitment to the Government of China that no anti-China rallies will be allowed to take place anywhere in the country,” Mao claimed when contacted by The Indian Express.

When he was told that several such rallies had taken place across India, he said: “I don’t know of other places but I can say that what the Kolkata police have done is absolutely right.”

Members of the Tibetan group had a written permission from the Kolkata Police allowing them to hold the rally and prayer meeting across Metro Cinema in Esplanade. But last night, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Vineet Goyal called them up to say the government had denied them permission. Hundreds of Tibetans from Dharamshala, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Sikkim had already arrived in the city to participate in the rally.

“Deputy Commissioner Goyal called us and said that because of pressure from above they were withdrawing their permission,” said Dorjee.

When contacted, Goyal said: “I am a police official and I have no other option than to abide by the Government’s decision. I have just followed the Government’s orders.”

“We requested the police to allow us to hold the rally at least for a day instead of three since so many people have come from all over India and we have already paid for the pandal. We even told him we will scale down the number of people but he said he could not do anything.” He said that since they had no other option they would now hold their prayer meeting inside Mahabodhi Society tomorrow, an option the police offered.

Said Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty: “Permission cannot be given to all rallies considering the situation and the threat they pose. Without seeing intelligence reports, I cannot tell you why permission to the Tibetan rally was denied.”

Said Kshiti Gowami, West Bengal PWD Minister from RSP: “I think both the Centre and the state are confused about what to do with Tibetans. I believe it is because of the trouble in Darjeeling where many Tibetans live that the government denied permission to them.”

editor@expressindia.com