After visiting a mosque and a gurudwara, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday visited two temples in Bhabnipur with an apparent intent to woo voters of all communities and religions.
During the day, he interacted with representatives of Gujarati, Marwari and Jain communities at Uttam Udyam, where the Trinamool president said he was for every community.
Ms Banerjee said her fate was to contest and represent Bhawanipore. The constituency located in South Kolkata is an eclectic mix of communities such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marwari and Hindi speaking people.
“When I go to a mosque, BJP asks why am I going there? They are making the video of me coming viral. yesterday [Wednesday] I went to a Gurudwara. I covered my head and left. I worship Kali. When I go to gurdwara or do Kali Puja, the BJP has no objection to it,” Ms Banerjee said.
The chief minister said he had faced a similar campaign in Nandigram after the BJP alleged that “Nandigram will become Pakistan”. “I will not allow India to become Taliban or Pakistan. This is my motherland. Who is giving certificate to BJP, who is national and who is anti-national?
The chief minister narrated how she stood by members of the business and business community during demonetisation and often visited Burabazar, the biggest wholesale market in Kolkata. Ms Banerjee filed her nomination for Bhawanipore on September 10 and has left no stone unturned to reach out to voters in the past week.
The Chief Minister offered prayers at Laxmi Narayan Temple and also circumambulated the deity. He distributed prasad among the devotees at Gol Mandir.
Door to door campaign of BJP candidate
BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal is trying to speed up the door-to-door campaign in the assembly constituency on Thursday. Sometimes, a BJP candidate is faced with slogans of “Joy Bangla”, to which BJP supporters are responding with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”.
The BJP leadership complained to the returning officer that the COVID-19 protocol was violated during Ms Banerjee’s visit to the gurdwara on Wednesday. The BJP candidate has already been served notice by the Election Commission for violation of protocol.
On September 30, polling will be held in Bhabnipur, Samserganj and Jangipur.
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