Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was forced to address two public meetings over the phone on Sunday as district administrations in South and North Dinajpurs denied permission for his helicopter to land near the venues.

The BJP leader was scheduled to address the rallies at the Railway Station Ground in Balurghat and at Kashibati near Raiganj. Yogi was supposed to land at Bagdogra Airport and then fly by a chopper to the railway ground in Balurghat and later to a helipad inside a BSF camp at Mirual, on the outskirts of Raiganj.

BJP workers demonstrated for three hours in front of South Dinajpur district magistrate Deepap Priya P.’s official residence in Balurghat on Sunday to protest the refusal of permission for the chopper landing.

The demonstration in front of the South Dinajpur DM’s residence in Balurghat on Sunday. Picture by Kousik Sen

Sources said the BJP had sought permission to land the chopper at Balurghat airport. “A few days ago, the district administration had denied the permission for the chopper landing at the airport, citing technical reasons. Hence, we approached the authorities for permission for landing on the railway ground, where the rally was scheduled. But the authorities said the ground was unfit for a VIP chopper to land,” said a BJP source.

With regard to the Raiganj landing, the North Dinajpur district magistrate wrote to the BJP on Sunday, saying an engineer of the state public works department had found the BSF helipad unsafe.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, who was at the Bagdogra airport to receive Yogi, said: “Infiltrators and terrorists are allowed to come to Bengal but the Prime Minister, our party chief and a chief minister of another state are prevented. ”

The UP chief minister finally addressed the two gathering over the phone with his speeches being played over microphones. “There is no democracy in Bengal. The state government had stopped us from holding the rath yatra and now, they are trying to prevent meetings. But they cannot stop us. I will be in Bengal and will address people,” Yogi said.

According to sources in Balurghat, around 10,000 people had gathered to listen to Yogi, while the crowd was estimated to be 12,000 strong at Kashibati.

Bengal tourism minister and Trinamul leader Gautam Deb said in Siliguri that the BJP rallies were a flop. “It is due their own incompetence that their meetings have failed. They could not bring in people to the venues and didn’t look for multiple sites for chopper landing. To hide their failures, they are raising baseless allegations against us.”