Kolkata, Aug 7 (PTI) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) West Bengal unit has decided to conduct four ‘Rath Yatras’ in the state as a part of its ‘Sourjya Yatra’ across the country in October this year. VHP state media-in-charge Sourish Mukherjee said there are plans to take out four ‘Rath Yatras’ from various parts of South Bengal from October 1-8.
“Later, a major rally would be held in Kolkata as all the four rath yatras would converge in the metropolis. These rath yatras will be part of the Sourjya Yatra across the state. This yatra will be part of our efforts to unite the Hindu community in the state and pay tribute to our freedom fighters,” he told PTI.
However, Mukherjee noted that the date, venue and route of the Rath Yatras are not yet decided.
The Trinamool Congress frowned at the VHP’s proposal of organising Rath Yatras and said those were aimed at “mixing religion with politics.” “We all know that VHP’s programmes aim to spread hatred. But it will not yield any result,” TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said.
However, the BJP said in a democracy, every outfit has the right to conduct its programmes.
“In a democracy, everybody has the right to conduct its programmes peacefully. But the reality is that the TMC doesn’t believe in democracy,” BJP state spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said.
The TMC had fanned the ‘Bengali pride’ by coming up with a poll slogan, “Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chai” (Bengal wants its own daughter), and has created a poll narrative of sub-nationalism to counter BJP’s identity politics in the 2021 assembly polls.
The “insider-outsider” debate in West Bengal gained strength before the assembly polls, with the ruling TMC embracing Bengali sub-nationalism as its main poll plank to counter the rise of the BJP’s Hindutva narrative in the state and has branded it as a “party of outsiders”.
The Trinamool Congress, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stormed to power for the third consecutive time riding on that poll plank and bagged 213 seats. In contrast, the BJP, despite its high-pitch poll campaign, managed to bag only 77 seats. PTI PNT PNT RG
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