BJP President JP Nadda inaugurated the poribarthan yatra starting from Nabadwip in Nadia district on Saturday as part of his Bengal visit to woo voters, with Assembly elections a few months away. Nabadwip is known as one of the most sacred places for Hindu pilgrims. Over two days, the mega roadshow passes through all 15 assembly constituencies.
Unseating the Trinamool Congress(TMC) is BJP’s biggest challenge and convincing the people of West Bengal that the state needs a new face and party to take the state ahead on the development path. What is expected to go beyond politics over the rath yatra is TMC’s motorcycle rally in the same district where the rath yatra will be inaugurated by Nadda.
TMC’s rally which is set to cover 15 assembly constituencies, will have 10,000 motorcycles and tableaus and is termed as ‘janasamarthan yatra’ or journey for mass support. The worry was about the rallies criss crossing after the BJP’s poribartan yatra began.
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A day earlier, a public interest litigation was filed in Calcutta High Court(HC) to stop BJP’s rath yatra plan citing COVID-19 and overcrowding, also that the yatra will go across the state for 25 days which also brings into question the law and order situation. BJP’s General Secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya had said that the court has yet not given a stay order on the yatra and hence it cannot be stopped at the district administration level. The matter will be heard on February 9th by the HC.
While the first rath yatra was inaugurated on Saturday in Nadia district, the second one will be inaugurated on February 11th at Coochbehar district by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Other rallies will begin from Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas, Jhargram and Tarapith in Birbhum. The purpose of the five-phase rath yatra is to cover all the 294 assembly constituencies in the state.
Ahead of the yatra launch, Nadda attended a programme at Malda district which includes joining over 3,000 farmers for lunch at Shahpur village and a roadshow. Nadda also paid tributes to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a revered saint from the Bhakti movement.