Trinamul leaders in Birbhum have launched a drive to clean temples in their respective areas in an apparent bid to counter, though subtly, the BJP’s Hindutva-driven narrative to appropriate places of worship and pilgrimages.

Sources said ruling party MLAs and workers had started the drive in the run up to the Assembly polls to establish its “connect” with the Hindu way of life, while simultaneously, hinting at the BJP’s apparent failure to put its words into actions.

The temple clean-up comes in the backdrop of BJP leaders trying to polarise voters on religious lines and accusing Trinamul of appeasing minorities. While the temple sanitisation is an obvious attempt to level with the BJP’s tactics, rival parties in the district played it down, terming it “unoriginal” and condemning Trinamul’s introduction of politics into religious spaces.

“The move will establish good faith among local residents while also countering less obvious forces of the Hindu right-wing on the ground like the Viswa Hindu Parshad,” said a source.

The initiative, reportedly conceived by poll consultant Prashant Kishor, comes after the Sangh parivar has launched fundraising for the proposed Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Sources said before launching the clean-up drive, Trinamul leaders had been asked to draw up a list of temples and schedule visits where they would interact with devotees and take part in temple-cleaning drives.

The leaders are reportedly touring the surrounding areas to gauge people’s sentiments.

“Leaders are also holding meetings regarding their attentiveness towards the Hindu community and fuse those speeches with their eye towards local development,” said a worker, adding that Trinamul’s doles for temples and priests were being discussed with the local populace.

“The BJP and its wings are playing the polarisation card against Trinamul before the Assembly polls. So, it is high time to reach out to temples so as to send a message to the Hindu community that Trinamul is also there for them,” said a senior Trinamul leader.

Asit Majumdar, the Trinamul MLA from Hooghly’s Chinsurah, has visited several temples to clean the premises and interact with local people.

“I have already visited six temples and there are at least six more to visit. I, along with our party workers, are going to temples, cleaning premises and interacting with common people and devotees there,” Majumdar told The Telegraph recently.

In Purulia, Trinamul leaders have identified around 100 temples for leaders to visit.

In the Ayodhya hills in Purulia, the zilla sabhadhipati and a group of Trinamul leaders cleaned a Ram temple two weeks ago.

“MLAs are busy for the polls and the drive to reach and clean temples has started. Our leaders already visited around ten important temples in our area,” said a party worker.

In a bid to woo Hindu voters, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had already started paying a monthly honorarium for Hindu priests and allotted funds for the development of several temples across Bengal last year.

According to the 2011 census, Bengal has a 70.54 per cent Hindu population, making them a deciding factor in the elections.

Even prior to the temple clean-up drive, Trinamul had taken several measures across different districts to woo Hindu voters. In Purulia, party leaders had organised a large-scale Ram Navami celebration in 2019 to counter the BJP’s polarisation cards.

In Birbhum, district Trinamul leaders had distributed khols and kartals to the kirtan groups at a cost of around Rs 2 crore in 2018.

BJP leaders, however, said Trinamul’s ‘gimmicks” would not work.

The CPM also criticised Trinamul’s temple sanitisation saying it had been “copied” from the Sangh parivar’s playbook.

“We can’t find any difference between Trinamul and the BJP as both are focussing on temples. Politics on religion is nothing but a result of political bankruptcy. We think both the parties are playing polarisation cards to win the elections but are forgetting their social responsibilities,” said Ram Chandra Dom, a CPM central committee member.