E-Paper
Watch how Trinamool Congress sanitised BJP workers before welcoming them to the party
Local Trinamool leaders said the purification programme was necessary as those workers were carrying the 'BJP virus'.
A video of around 140 BJP workers in West Bengal's Birbhum being inducted into Trinamool Congress from the BJP has gone viral as an elaborate purification drive was organised for the purpose. And amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, what is better to purify than sanitiser. As the viral video, shared by news agency ANI, shows, the local workers were made to stand in a queue. Then they were given sanitiser, not a blob on the palm, but generous spraying of the sanitiser all over their body. It was all apparently done in good humour as the workers were asked to close their eyes before they were sprayed with sanitiser and were given the TMC flag after they were purified.
The purification appears to be symbolic but local Trinamool leaders have said that they believe that the 'BJP virus' was with them and so the BJP workers needed to be purified with the sanitiser.
Reports said that while this video might have become viral, such purification process is actually not new as local Trinamool leaders elswehere too are making sure that those who are doing 'Ghar Wapsi' must do some atonement.
In West Bengal's Hooghly, about 200 BJP workers were taken back to the Trinamool after purifying them with Ganga water. Some also shaved their heads as a mark of penitence, reports said.
Just ahead of the West Bengal Assembly Election 2021, Trinamool witnessed a mass exodus from the party. One of the big-ticket exits was Suvendu Adhikari, who is now the leader of the opposition in the state assembly. The exits were reported at all levels as many grassroots workers jumped the ship ahead of the elections. After the election results were announced and the Trinamool government came to the power for the third consecutive time, the party is now witnessing a series of homecoming, the major one being that of Mukul Roy.
