The Trinamul-run Asansol Municipal Corporation has sanctioned Rs 20 lakh for the expansion and renovation of a cow shelter at Barakar, a known BJP stronghold dominated by Hindi speakers.
Mayor Jitendra Kumar Tiwari kicked off the expansion on Wednesday, with the work likely to be completed in two months.
“Some locals approached me for funds to expand the shelter when I came to attend a programme on Gopastami (a festival dedicated to Lord Krishna and cows) on November 15. I sanctioned Rs 20 lakh from the general fund of our civic corporation for the purpose,” said Tiwari, who is also the Trinamul MLA from Pandaveswar.
Sources said the move was another effort by Trinamul to woo Hindi-speaking Hindu voters back in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat where the party’s Dola Sen had lost to the BJP’s Babul Supriyo in 2014. Supriyo had won by 70,480 votes in the constituency that has over 45 per cent Hindi speakers.
Around 250 non-productive, sick and stray cows will be kept in the expanded shelter, located along the Barakar river on the border with BJP-ruled Jharkhand.
The shelter, known as Goushala, now has 137 cows. It was constructed in 1980 by the residents on a two-acre plot donated by them. A committee runs the facility. The panel has 26 members, mostly Hindi-speaking traders.
Last year, mayor Tiwari had distributed Rs 5,000 each to 82 organisers of Ram Navami festivities — popular among Hindi-speaking people — from the civic body’s funds.
A sum of Rs 3,000 each was handed to 67 Ram Navami organisers in Pandaveswar, Tiwari’s Assembly constituency that also has a sizeable Hindi-speaking population.
Tiwari took part in several Ram Navami rallies and announced he would construct 10 Surya temples before the next Chhath Puja from funds collected as donations.
The BJP saw the cow shelter grant as an attempt to influence its voters in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
“Trinamul is scared of the BJP’s popularity among Hindi-speaking people. The people are not fools,” said Lakshman Ghorui, the BJP president in West Burdwan, which covers Asansol. Tiwari dismissed the claim.
Arjun Agarwal, joint secretary of the Goushala committee, said the move “had nothing to do with politics”.
