The Sangh parivar has lined up two specific events that are linked to its core Hindutva ideology in Bengal in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad will organise Shaurya Jagran Yatra ahead of the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya early next year. According to the preliminary plan, four chariots from four corners of the state will commence their journey towards Calcutta in early October.
A grand event will be held in the city to mark the conclusion of the rath yatras.
BJP leaders will engage themselves in Durga Puja this year with seniors from Delhi, including Union home minister Amit Shah, likely to visit the state during the 10 days — from Mahalaya to Vijaya Dashami — to participate in the biggest festival for Bengalis.
The development comes in the backdrop of allegations levelled by chief minister Mamata Banerjee that the BJP was conspiring to create communal disharmony in Bengal in the manner it had allegedly engineered the strife in Manipur.
The saffron camp, however, refuted Mamata's allegations and said they would use the occasion to take their ideology to the people.
"For us, politically the unveiling of the Ram Mandir is the biggest event, whereas Durga Puja is the biggest event in the state. Both occasions are core Hindu events, which is why we will use them to propagate our ideology," a source said.
Both matters have been discussed in a series of recently concluded meetings between members of the Bengal BJP and their leaders in Delhi, sources said.
On Thursday, Mamata alleged in the Assembly that in these meetings it had been decided that the BJP’s main agenda would be to divide society on caste and religious lines to get mileage in the forthcoming elections in Bengal.
Though VHP's rath yatra will be a national event, the plan is being drawn up in a manner that Bengal will have a crucial role to play.
A spokesperson for the organisation in south Bengal, Sourish Mukherjee, admitted that such an event was in the pipeline.
"We will organise the rath yatra (in Bengal). But details of it are yet to be planned. We can share the details in a couple of days," he said when asked to specify the number of chariots that will criss-cross the country.
Though the event will not be organised under the BJP's banner, members of the state unit including MPs and MLAs have been asked to participate. Speaking to this newspaper, a BJP MLA said their participation was mandatory since the party was a constituent of the larger saffron ecosystem.
"Our lawmakers will at least have to join the procession when it travels through their respective constituencies," the MLA added.
The RSS ecosystem has long used the rath yatra as a weapon to propagate its ideology and polarise the Hindu majority of the country. In 1990, the then BJP chief L.K. Advani initiated a rath yatra to express solidarity with the VHP's agitation demanding the building of a Ram temple replacing the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
As for the Durga Puja, from 2020 to 2022 the state BJP organised a Puja at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre. However, last year, Sukanta Majumdar announced that the party would not arrange any Puja from 2023. However, members of the party will be instructed to participate in the Puja in their individual capacities as several organisations aligned with the BJP will organise Durga Puja.
