Ram Navami doorstep drive in Salt Lake, distribution among residents for celebration
Telegraph | 3 April 2025
A Hanuman Chalisa, a pouch of rice grain and a small flag featuring Ram or Hanuman.
These are some of the ingredients being distributed among Salt Lake residents in a door-to-door campaign asking them to celebrate Ram Navami on Sunday.
Banners inviting residents to join Ram Navami processions have come up at important intersections like Karunamoyee or the island at City Centre and also deep into the blocks, once a Red Fort.
“Bengali-speaking men arrived at our doorstep on Monday evening. They gave us a Hanuman Chalisa, a small flag and some rice grain. They said the rice was a prasad and asked us to cook it with the next day’s meal,” said a CE Block resident.
“They did not clearly identify who they were but towards the end of the conversation they said they would take out Ram Navami processions on Sunday,” said the resident who requested anonymity.
Conversations in the township established the identity of some of them.
Like in Calcutta, they are Swayamsevaks of the RSS or active BJP workers.
Swarajit Das Sarkar, who identified himself as a Nagar Karyavah of a part of the township and a key organiser of a rally between Tank No. 2 and Baisakhi, said the rice was part of what had remained from the prasad distributed across the country after the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January 2024.
“We had distributed the rice earlier, too. This time, we are also giving a Hanuman Chalisa, small flags with images of Lord Ram and Hanuman and a booklet describing the RSS and its work,” said Das Sarkar.
The banners for the Ram Navami processions have been put up under the name of Ram Navami Utsav Samiti.
Das Sarkar said door-to-door campaigns had started in AB and AA blocks and several others.
“A lot of Bengalis who would otherwise remain aloof are now participating in these events,” said an organiser.
Jishnu Basu, a senior RSS functionary in eastern India, said: “It is natural that many Swayamsevaks will be involved in celebrating Ram Navami. Many common Hindus will also participate as they are slowly realising that their existence is threatened in Bengal.”
In the 2021 Assembly poll debacle, when the BJP expected to get over 200 seats but ended up with about 70, the party fared comparatively better in Salt Lake.
Trinamool’s Sujit Bose got a slender lead of 47 votes in Salt Lake. He won the Bidhannagar seat by nearly 8,000 votes in the final result.
In 2024, though the Trinamool Congress retained the Barasat Lok Sabha seat, the party’s candidate trailed the BJP candidate in 10 of the 14 wards in Salt Lake. The four wards where Trinamool led are all on the fringes of the township.
Unlike in many parts of Calcutta, Salt Lake has Ram Navami banners in the name of the BJP’s Salt Lake unit.
“Ram Navami te Ram-er bol/ Bhootera (durnitibaj) hobey haribol (We will chant Ram’s name on Ram Navami/ the ghosts — the corrupt — will be decimated),” read a banner near Salt Lake City Centre that had “116 Bidhannagar BJP” written on it.
Samik Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha MP and a BJP spokesperson, said the poster “must be the brainchild of some grassroots workers”.
MLA Bose said the people of Bidhannagar were not bothered about posters.
“Pujas during Ram Navami have been happening for years. The posters are only an attempt to attract attention. The chief minister has said that no one from our party will give in to provocation,” he said.
“Those who want to participate in the puja will do so. There is no problem with the processions if they remain peaceful,” Bose said.