The Mamata Banerjee government has refused permission for the BJP’s proposed rathyatras in Bengal, citing “grave apprehension” of “major breach of peace” and “communal violence”.

The decision was conveyed in a three-page letter sent to the party late on Saturday.

The outright denial reinforced the perception that a meeting between the administration and the party on Thursday — held following a high court directive for such talks — was all about optics as there was little willingness on the part of the government to allow the programme.

After a slew of meetings among top state officials through Saturday, the letter sent from Nabanna ruled out the programme in its entirety. It said the BJP could seek fresh permission from district administrations for meetings — some likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah — originally planned around the rathyatras.

“There is grave apprehension of major breach of peace and communal violence during and in the aftermath of the yatra…. We are, therefore, of the opinion that, for the reasons which have been elaborately mentioned herein, it is not possible to allow the yatra as proposed by the BJP,” states the letter, signed by chief secretary Malay De, home secretary Atri Bhattacharya and director-general of state police Virendra.

The officials had been directed by the high court division bench to meet three BJP leaders to explore the possibilities of granting permission for the programme.

The BJP alleged “murder of democracy” and said it would move court again. However, the party has already started calling the programme a “ganatantra banchao (save democracy) yatra” instead of rathyatras in the wake of the government citing concerns of communal discord over the name.

“We are almost certainly going to move court. We will also carry out law-violation programmes across the state against this draconian diktat. We have sent a letter to Amitji and will speak to him soon to finalise our further course of action,” said BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh.

Party national secretary Rahul Sinha said: “We will not abandon our programme because Mamata Banerjee is scared of it.”

The letter referred to inputs from the authorities in the districts and the state Intelligence Branch. It cited concerns that outfits like the RSS-BJP parivar — such as the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, with an “overtly communal agenda” — would “actively” joining the programme.

Some in the administration, however, felt the letter should not have mentioned the outfits as none is banned under the law. “This letter will be dissected in court by the BJP’s legal representatives. There could be some embarrassing questions because of such needless details,” said a Nabanna source.

The government also pointed out that yatra coincided with the Christmas-New Year season and the Gangasagar Mela, which draws lakhs from other states. The festivals require police deployments, it added.