AMN / KOLKATA
“Slit my throat but no one tells me what to do,” a defiant Mamata Banerjee declared today after a court said her government in Bengal cannot ban the immersion of Durga idols on Muharram and cancelled the unusual restrictions that she had ordered on grounds that there could be trouble.
“You are exercising extreme power without any basis,” the Calcutta High Court said in sharp comments on the order banning immersions after 10 pm on September 30 – when Durga Puja ends – and on Muharram a day later.
The Calcutta High Court today allowed immersion of Durga idols on all days from Vijayadashami on the 30th of this month, including on Muharram, and directed the West Bengal government to make necessary security arrangements.
The court asked the state government to chalk out designated routes for immersion and tazia processions.
It said that immersion of Durga idols would be held on all days according to the Hindu almanac, including that on Muharram on the 1st of October, when such processions were prohibited by the state administration.
The bench also directed the state government to put out advertisements giving information about the routes and also for ensuring amity and harmony between the communities.