After denying permissions to helicopters carrying senior BJP leaders to land in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government today denied permission to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s chopper to land in the state. The Congress president is to hold a public meeting in Siliguri on 16th of this month ahead of the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
#Breaking | No permission for Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s chopper in West Bengal. More details by @Tamal0401. pic.twitter.com/Y0L3hoNtwG
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 12, 2019
Congress has alleged that they had submitted the application for the chopper landing to the concerned officials on the 7th April 2019 seeking permission but so far they have got no response from them. However, the Congress party was today denied the permission to land their chopper directly in Siliguri. The Congress president is not stopped from visiting the place through road routes but direct landing in the Siliguri area has not been allowed. The Siliguri metropolitan police have denied him permission to land in the town without providing any specific reason for their denial.
The Congress, on the other hand, has alleged that though the application was submitted on April 7th, the state government had studiously avoided responding to it until it was too late and then finally denied permission without offering a credible explanation. With the permission of chopper denied, Rahul Gandhi will have to fly down to nearby Bagdogra airport and from there via road to Siliguri.
A few days back, Mamata Banerjee had derided the Congress president saying he is just a kid. However, Congress is not the first victim of Mamata Banerjee’s caprices. Earlier, the BJP was denied permission for flying down a chopper to Malda district where Amit Shah was to hold a rally. The reason that was given then was that there was some construction going on at the airport. But IndiaToday report says they found that the helipad and the runaway at the Malda airport were clean and devoid of any construction materials. Prior to this, Mamata Banerjee had persistently disallowed BJP from carrying out rath yatras in Bengal claiming that they will stoke communal tensions. In February, WB government had denied permission for landing UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s helicopter, preventing him from attending rallies in the state. Due to this, the UP CM had addressed a rally in WB via telephone.
Stalling opposition parties and their leaders from addressing rallies in West Bengal has been archetypal TMC modus-operandi. TMC is also accused of unleashing violence against their ideological rivals. So while Mamata Banerjee raises bogus slogans of ‘Democracy in Danger’, it is for everyone to see who is the real villain behind imperilling the democracy.
