Modi to attend Kolkata event in which 1 lakh will chant Bhagavad Gita
BJP's West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar says event has nothing to do with the BJP, and the party is not organising it
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend an event in Kolkata in December where about 1 lakh people will chant Bhagavad Gita together, BJP's West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar said on Monday (November 20).
Majumdar said the programme, Ek Lakh Gita Path, will take place at the Brigade Parade Ground in the heart of the city on December 24.
"We have invited Modi to attend the programme, and he has accepted our invitation. One lakh people will recite Bhagavad Gita together that day," he told PTI.
"Apolitical programme"
Several religious groups will organise the event.
"It will be an apolitical programme," Majumdar said, adding that invitations will also be sent to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Governor CV Ananda Bose, and other leading personalities in the state.
"This event has nothing to do with the BJP, and we are not organising it," he added.
TMC reaction
The ruling Trinamool Congress said the event was being held with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"As the Lok Sabha elections are approaching, it is natural that BJP leaders would be visiting the state more frequently. We saw this ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the assembly polls of 2021. But this will not yield any result," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
In 2019, the BJP won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The TMC won 22.
(With agency inputs)