CM Suvendhu Adhikari turns Bengal's Chhath ghats into launchpad for UP campaign

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari used a Chhath Puja programme on Friday to ask Uttar Pradesh-origin residents of Bengal to carry the BJP’s message back to their home state, where assembly elections are due in a few months.

Pointing to the dense Hindi-speaking pocket stretching from Halisahar and Bijpur to Titagarh, Adhikari asked voters to repeat their Bihar effort. “Persuade your relatives who are voters in Uttar Pradesh to vote for Modi-ji and ensure a BJP victory,” he said.

He also took aim at those who had dragged the Prime Minister’s parents into political attacks. “They should be wiped out in Uttar Pradesh elections,” he said, without naming any party.

Turning to Bengal, Adhikari accused the previous Trinamool government of eroding the state’s heritage and of insulting people from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, besides trying to split Sanatanis into Bengali and non-Bengali camps. “It will not happen in the future,” he said, noting that Bengalis, too, celebrate Chhath.

He argued that cultural barriers in the state had dissolved, recalling that Ram Navami processions, once questioned in Bengal, are now commonplace. He added that nearly 30,000 Ganesh festivals were held across the state this year.

As far as Chhath preparations are concerned, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is building 116 ghats across the city for the festival, which runs from November 13 to 16, including six temporary ones. Jet sprays will clean the ghats, red carpets will be laid at prominent ones, and rose water will be sprinkled at some. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is developing another 39 ghats.

Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Paul had earlier promised changing rooms at all ghats and temporary paver-block paths at ponds. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said he will inspect the Ganga ghats by boat on the evening of November 15.