Kolkata: With just about a year left for the Assembly elections in West Bengal, the issue of religion seems to have taken the political scenario in the state by storm. Days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee swore on the inclusiveness practiced by greats like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda, to claim that she is a Hindu who believes in equal rights for people of other religions, leader of the opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari announces that construction of an Ayodhya-style Ram Mandir will commence in Nandigram from April 6.
April 6 is also the date when Ram Navami will be celebrated across the country. Adhikari had, in the past, spoken of a Ram Mandir at Sonachura, Nandigram, in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal. On Friday, he announced the date when construction will begin. The LOP has said that construction will be completed within a year. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh has said that all of this is the BJP’s futile efforts towards polarisation of Hindi votes in a state where it is losing support.
Adhikari, incidentally, was speaking at a memorial for members of the Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee, who were killed during the Nandigram movement in 2007-08. He was then, not only a part of the Trinamool Congress, but also Mamata’s right-hand man. He moved to the BJP later and trounced Mamata in the Nandigram seat in the 2021 Assembly elections.
This was a major embarrassment for the chief minister, who had to contest a bye-election later to become an MLA and retain her post.
Over the last few weeks, Adhikari seems to have pressed the accelerator pedal in regards to religious politics. He has spared no opportunity to lash out at the state government for allegedly allowing members of the minority community to disrupt Hindu religious festivals. He even went so far as to say that MLAs from a certain minority community will be thrown out of the Assembly, once the BJP comes to power in the state. Mamata reacted by saying that a minor incident is being blown out of proportion.
Adhikari’s announcement about commencement of work for the Ram Mandir comes at a time when Mamata is planning ‘Pran Pratishtha’ at a replica of the world famous Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, at Digha, close to Nandigram. This event is planned to take place on April 30, on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya. Adhikari has also said that Ram Navami will be celebrated in the state through 2,000 major processions, something that has never happened in West Bengal before.