The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Tuesday alleged that an auditorium run by the West Bengal government in Kolkata had cancelled a booking for an event where its chief Mohan Bhagwat was scheduled to speak, PTI reported. The Mahajati Sadan had been booked for a programme on October 3 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita.

The booking was cancelled for “safety and security reasons”, Mahajati Sadan said, adding that repair works will be undertaken at around the same time at the facility. The Kolkata Police also said that the 10-day yearly renovation was scheduled to take place in the holidays during Durga Puja.

The Sister Nivedita Mission Trust said the authorities of the auditorium had earlier asked for a No Objection Certificate from the police. “While we were about to obtain the No Objection Certificate, the authorities on September 1 informed us that the auditorium was unavailable as it would be under maintenance in the first week of October,” general secretary of the Sister Nivedita Mission Trust, Rantideb Sengupta, told The Indian Express.

Sengupta also said that Bhagwat was invited to speak at the event as its theme was the nationalist movement. “We never though that his name will create so much of controversy,” Sengupta told News18.

Meanwhile, the Mahajati Sadan claimed that besides the booking of the Sister Nivedita Mission Trust, the bookings of Antatra Dance School, Agrahari Samaj and the Seth Anandram Jaipuria College have also been cancelled.

“When they have not created a hue and cry about it, why does the Sister Nivedita Mission Trust think that there is some conspiracy against them?” auditorium’s Secretary Nurul Huda told News18.