BJP MP Roopa Ganguly has refused to call her party’s campaign to reach the doorstep of voters as ‘rathyatra’. She said BJP was calling it ‘Parivartan Yatra’, the party’s journey to development of Bengal.
While flagging off another phase of the ‘yatra’ in Bolpur Ganguly was seen saying to ABP Ananda, “This is a ‘Parivartan Yatra’. It can either be a bus or a tempo or a tableau.”
“We are traveling kilometres after kilometres. We are covering 72 kilometres a day. So obviously no one will walk so much, there’ll be a mode of transport. We can call it a rath or a tableau,” she added.
In an attempt to reach people at their doorsteps ahead of the upcoming West Bengal Assembly Election, BJP president JP Nadda started off the party’s ‘Parivartan Rathyatra’ from Nabadwip in Nadia district, the birthplace of 15th century saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
On Thursday in North Bengal’s Coochbehar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also inaugurated one of the five proposed yatras. Several other top BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, are also likely to take part later.
The Hindutva brigade launched similar yatras from Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas, Jhargram and Tarapith in Birbhum between February 6 and 11.
The ruling TMC on the other hand has come down heavily on the BJP. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday mocked BJP leaders for behaving like “as if they are god’s” due to the ‘rathyatra’ that the party is undertaking across the state.
At a rally in Uttar Dinajpur’s Raiganj, Banerjee alleged that the political agenda behind BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ was to create division in society on the basis of religion. She also accused the saffron party of resorting to lies about Hinduism.
“Rath Yatra is a religious festival. All of us have participated in this festival. We know Lord Jagannath, Balaram and Goddess Subhadra travel in those chariots.
“But, the BJP leaders are using this Rath Yatra for their own political purposes to divide the society and pit one against the other. BJP leaders are travelling on raths as if they are gods,” she said.
The former railway minister further attacked BJP by saying that the party was insulting Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna. She said, “That is not a rath. It’s a five-star hotel. Lord Jagannath travels in a rath. Are the BJP leaders bigger than him?”
“Do we need to worship BJP leaders now? We have seen how raths are used in Mahabharata. Lord Krishna travelled in a rath with Arjun. Are the BJP leaders Krishna?”