Kolkata, June 30 -- West Bengal Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee on Tuesday termed the denial of permission for the July 21 Shahid Diwas (Martyrs' Day) event "detrimental to democracy," asserting that the programme would be held despite the rejection and that the venue and format would be decided soon.

Addressing a press conference here, Banerjee said his faction had expected permission from the Kolkata Police as the event had been organised for years.

"This is detrimental to democracy; since this is an event that has been taking place for a long time, we had certain expectations. We had applied to the Kolkata Police for permission, hoping it would be granted. However, permission was denied, and we believe this should not have ha...