The Durga Puja festival in October is going to be a major public relations (PR) medium for the BJP's West Bengal unit, as the district leaderships of the party has been asked to organise at least one puja or be the principal organisers in a community at every district of the state.
Till now, the ruling Trinamool Congress has virtually monopolised their supremacy as principal organisers of the community pujas in the state.
Only on rare occassions, Congress leaders are seen as principal organisers.
For the BJP, except their councilor from Kolkata Sajal Ghosh, none of their leaders are seen as lead faces in such matters.
The CPI(M), whose leaders stay away from being associated with annual religious events or community pujas, use the opportunity to push Marxist literature by setting up book stalls near popularpandals.
However, in the backdrop of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP state committee has decided to make the participation of their leadership in community pujas in a major way.
Instructions have already been sent from the state committee to different district presidents to start preparations.
This year, Durga Puja will be held from October 20 to 24.
Until last year, just one puja was organised in the outskirts of Kolkata under the direct supervision of the BJP state committee.
But this year, the saffron camp wants to expand its gambit in the wake of the upcoming general elections, a state committee member said.
He admitted that the ruling Trinamool Congress is definitely way ahead of the BJP on this count considering the long associations of their leaders with the big-budget community pujas.
“They have an additional advantage of the administrative support considering hefty annual doles given from the state government to all community puja organisers,” he said.
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