In a bid to counter Mamata Banerjee’s influence over the region, BJP leaders, including Amit Shah have decided to inaugurate about 500 Durga Puja pandals across West Bengal.
Durga Puja is one of the most sacred festivals in Bengal and is celebrated with great zeal and aplomb all around. This year, the five-day festival will kick-start on October 4, the day of Mahashasthmi. The festival cuts across sections of people of different class and the politicians know it and try to involve themselves as much as possible, to cash in on the sentiment by turning it into votes later.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has already inaugurated more than 20 pujas pandals starting as early as from September 27 to make room for opening as many puja pandals.
Looks like Didi is trying to make-up to the Hindus whom she has already angered because of her Muslim-appeasement politics.
Over the last few years, TMC leaders have dominated the list of puja inaugurators. But, starting this year, the central leadership of BJP has asked the state unit to focus on increasing engagement with community puja committees to improve public relations. About 28,000 community Durga pujas take place across the state. Of them, nearly 2,500 are in Kolkata. Amit Shah, who will visit Kolkata on Tuesday, will inaugurate the BJ-Block Durga Puja in Salt Lake area.
After being handed a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, in which Mamata was reduced to 22 seats from her previous tally of 42 in the state of West Bengal, the upcoming state elections have got Didi all riled up.
The TMC leader has realised that her reign of terror is only going to push the people towards BJP which has now emerged as the main opposition and only alternative to Mamata’s tyrant rule.
BJP has realised that it is in with a golden chance and consequently it has amped up its engagement on the ground. After all, BJP has an opportunity to break the wheel of tyranny in the state. The share of the Muslim population has registered an explosive growth under Didi’s regime.
So far 2 out of 19 districts of the state have become Muslim-dominated and the Hindu sentiments have largely been oppressed under the TMC rule where the 70 per cent Hindu population of the state is starting to feel marginalized due to open Muslim appeasement by the political class of West Bengal.
Taking her Muslim appeasement politics one step further in the year 2017, West Bengal government had announced that Durga puja idol immersion or visarjan ceremony will not be allowed due to Muharram, as it would have resulted in communal tensions flaring up.
The AITC workers have been accused of killing many BJP and RSS workers in the state all under the behest of Mamata government which gave tacit approval to these crimes by taking no actions against the criminals.
Given the anger against Muslim appeasement policies of Didi, Hindus of the state have started to put BJP as their first choice and it seems almost impossible for TMC to hold the fort in the 2021 assembly elections.
Keeping all these permutations and combinations in mind, BJP is looking to sway the Hindu vote-bank in their corner by taking to the Durga Puja pandals. Another master PR stroke straight from the Amit Shah book of politics, who is determined to storm the stronghold of TMC. It is going to be a fight till the finish and it seems like BJP is all-in with its ministers thronging the puja-pandals.
