Tamil Nadu denies permission for BJP’s Vel Yatra, state party unit awaits word from Delhi

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu authorities has determined to reject permission for the month-long Vetri Vel Yatra that the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had deliberate throughout the state, invoking Lord Murugan.

The Yatra, the BJP’s first forward of the meeting elections in 2021 was to start on November 6 and conclude on December 6, overlaying all six abodes of Lord Murugan by traversing from Tiruttani to Tiruchendur. However, after the setback, it’s understood that the get together is discussing on the way in which forward for the Yatra and awaiting phrase from their management in Delhi. 

Advocate General Vijay Narayan has knowledgeable the Madras High Court that the rejection order can be served on the BJP State unit workplace bearers on Thursday. Among the explanations cited for the rejection had been the specter of Covid-19 and the overtones associated to the Yatra.

Referring to a Government Order dated October 31, the Advocate General advised the Court that spiritual, social and political gatherings can be permitted with no more than 100 folks, solely after November 15.

Representing the BJP state unit, Advocate Raghavachari questioned the federal government’s resolution to reject permission, by countering that the Central Government had not prohibited spiritual congregations because of Covid-19 and that it had solely insisted that bodily distancing be maintained.

Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy stated that the BJP couldn’t take such a stand with out difficult the GO that prevented gatherings, which was issued by the State authorities on October 31. The advocate representing the BJP stated that they might have challenged the GO if the State had rejected their request for permission citing the Government Order. He additionally added that the involved authorities hadn’t handed any orders on the identical.

The Bench stated that it was open to the Tamil Nadu authorities to move applicable orders on the illustration searching for permission for the rally, and likewise added that if any of the events are aggrieved by the order, they might problem the order in courtroom. In this context, it have to be famous that the delivery anniversary of freedom fighter and non secular chief Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar was celebrated in a grand method amid the pandemic and had main state leaders in attendance, barely every week in the past.

In August too, allies BJP and AIADMK had been on collision course over the celebrations of Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesh Chaturthi throughout the state amid the pandemic, thus leaving it for the Madras High Court to determine. Back then, the Court had permitted solely people and households to put in Ganesha idols and immerse them in close by water our bodies. Immersion in massive public areas akin to Marina seashore was prohibited.

The Court additionally emphasised that the Tamil Nadu’s authorities’s ban on public celebrations, processions, set up of idols in public can be in drive. The Court additionally clarified that no group would have the ability to perform celebration actions and processions. The bench additionally recorded the enterprise made by the outfit Hindu Munnani, which acknowledged that they might not undertake any processions and would cooperate with the state authorities.

The state authorities’s resolution to allow opening of liquor outlets in Chennai metropolis(from Aug 18th), whereas not allowing putting in of Ganesha idols, taking them on processions, immersion rituals had irked the BJP state management. BJP leaders had questioned the Tamil Nadu authorities, asking them to take a cue from the neighbouring Karnataka authorities that has permitted the competition to be celebrated amid the Covid-19 pandemic.