Organisers of the National Convention for Peace, Secularism and Democracy in Mumbai had to scrap a poster exhibition on Gujarat on Saturday following a protest by the BJP. Earlier, the convention had been postponed from June 1 to July 13 because permission to hold it in Goregaon did not come through. Following a letter from the BJP to the Mumbai Police calling the posters objectionable and threatening to demonstrate, police cordoned off the area on Friday.‘‘It did not require police permission as it was inside a building — the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh Hall in Parel. So we did not intimate police with any letter seeking permission,’’ says Jatin Desai, a convenor of the convention.As part of the convention, the Satyashodhak Vidyarthi Sangathana had organised a poster exhibition ‘‘Gujarat Carnage 2002’’ by students of the J.J. School of Art. ‘‘None of the organisers was allowed to go inside. Only after visiting the DCP and agreeing to drop the exhibition were we allowed to hold the convention,’’ says Desai.BJP’s Mumbai chief Vinod Tawde confirmed a letter was written to the Commissioner of Police, opposing the exhibition as some of the posters could have hurt the sentiments of some people.‘‘They were politically motivated. A fortnight ago, police denied us permission for holding a public meeting where we wanted to put up certain facts about Gujarat which have been distorted by the media,” Tawde said.
