The BJP drew 20,000 supporters on Friday at a rally in Cooch Behar, the largest number in recent years despite the stalled rathyatra and the absence of top leaders.

Jhinaidanga, the venue near Cooch Behar town, falls in the Assembly constituency of Rabindranath Ghosh, state minister and Trinamul district chief. The crowd was being seen as an indication that the ruling party will have a fight in its hands in Cooch Behar in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Since Calcutta High Court barred the rathyatra on Thursday, confusion had reigned over whether the rally would be held. But Samsur Mondal, 65, and his friend septuagenarian Ahmed Ali Khandakar, both from an erstwhile Bangladeshi enclave in the district, had no doubts.

“We reached at the ground on Thursday evening as we wanted to hear (BJP chief) Amit Shah and other BJP leaders. On the way, we learnt the meeting might be cancelled but we still came and spent the night here,” said Mondal.

On Friday, the numbers swelled. “We had no plans to hold the meeting but as thousands came, we felt like holding a small meeting. In recent times, we haven’t seen such a gathering of our supporters. It shows that in Cooch Behar, the BJP is a force to reckon with,” said Malati Rava, the BJP district chief.Midway through the meeting, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh arrived. “Preparations were done but we were a bit hesitant on whether to hold the meeting. But the response encouraged us to go ahead,” Ghosh said.

Case against leaders

BJP leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya, Mukul Roy, Rahul Sinha and Ghosh have been booked along with 6,000 supporters for “unlawful assembly”. Cooch Behar SP Bholanath Pandey said the case was filed because the rally was held despite the police having refused permission for the BJP programmes.