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Amit Shah to flag off BJP’s 4th parivartan rath yatra today in poll-bound Bengal
The Union home minister, who was scheduled to visit West Bengal on January 30-31, had to cancel his trip after an explosion outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi
Union home minister Amit Shah will flag off the Bharatiya Janata Party’s fourth Parivartan Rath Yatra in West Bengal on Thursday during his one-day whirlwind tour of the poll-bound state.
Shah, who was scheduled to visit West Bengal on January 30-31, had to cancel his trip after an explosion outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi.
“While he will visit the famed Madan Mohan temple and flag off the fourth Parivartan Rath Yatra from Cooch Behar district in north Bengal, in south Bengal he will address a public rally and visit the Sri Sri Harichand Temple in North 24 Parganas district,” said a BJP leader.
Later, in Kolkata he will meet the party’s social media volunteers before taking a flight back to Delhi late in the night.
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Shah’s visit to Cooch Behar and North 24 Parganas is strategically important to bolster the partys campaign ahead of the crucial assembly polls because while in Cooch Behar, he is expected to address the Rajbonshi community and in North 24 Parganas, he is expected to address the Matua (Dalit) community.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, both these communities had helped the BJP make deep inroads in the state. The BJP won 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, while the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state won 22 seats.
This time the BJP is targeting more than 200 seats out of the 294 seats in the state legislative assembly for which elections are due to March-April this year.
On Wednesday, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had attacked the BJP, saying that the rath yatras were disrespecting gods and goddesses.
“We know that gods and goddesses ride rathas. But they (BJP) have built a huge rath which has all the facilities of 10-star hotels. They are having biryani, meat, pulao and kebab. They are having fun with people’s money. They have disrespected Lord Jagannath’s rath yatra. They are doing adharma in the name of dharma,” said Banerjee, while addressing a public rally in north Bengal.
In December 2018, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had planned to organise a rath yatra from Cooch Behar. The state government, and later the Calcutta high court denied them permission.
