The BJP Thursday welcomed the Calcutta High Court's decision to allow the party's rath yatras in West Bengal as a "victory of democracy" and said the rallies will begin "very soon".
The rath yatra programme is scheduled to be inaugurated by party chief Amit Shah.
Addressing a press conference at the party office here, senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said,"It is a victory of democracy. What the state government was doing was unconstitutional."
Another party leader, Bhupender Yadav, said, "Now, the yatras will begin soon. It will ensure the party's victory in the state in the coming days."
Senior party leader and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for denying permission for its rally and questioned the "silence" of opposition on the issue.
"Why are human rights activists and opposition parties silent on denial of a right to a political party to organise its programme in West Bengal. If any NDA/BJP Government had stopped an opposition Programme, it would have been called an Undeclared Emergency. Why Silence now?" Jaitley tweeted.
The BJP's West Bengal unit head Dilip Ghosh said the 'rath yatras' in the state will begin "very soon".
"I can assure that there will be no breach of law and order from our part," he said.
The party had planned three 'rath yatras' from different parts of West Bengal which will travel across the state's 42 parliamentary constituencies.
The rallies are part of the BJP's aggressive campaign to make inroads in the state, where it is gradually increasing its vote share. It has three MLAs in the 294-member Assembly and two Lok Saha MPs from the state.
On December 6 a single-judge bench of the HC had refused permission to the BJP to hold the 'rath yatra' programme, which was scheduled to be flagged off by BJP chief Amit Shah from Cooch Behar in North Bengal on December 7. The party had then approached the division bench.
The division bench had on December 7 asked the state chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police to hold a meeting with three representatives of the BJP and take a decision on the 'yatra' by December 14.
After parleys with the BJP team, the three officers refused permission for the rallies on December 15 on the grounds that it might lead to communal tension. The state BJP had moved the court again challenging the government's denial of permission to its programme.
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