BJP asks Bengal unit to launch outreach during puja
Times of India | 16 September 2025The direction to organise the campaign, which will see distribution of saris at pandals, came on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Rajnath Singh were in the city.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, Union minister Sukanta Majumdar and the leader of opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, met Modi at the airport on Sunday night. Bhattacharya met Singh at Fort William on Monday and spoke to him for nearly half an hour.
"I have known Rajnathji for nearly four decades. He came to Kolkata to attend a govt programme. He then asked me to meet him. We spoke at length on some issues, but I cannot divulge what we discussed," Bhattacharya said.
Also on Monday, Adhikari flew to Delhi and met Union home minister Amit Shah at his residence. Late in the evening he posted on his X handle: "We had a very productive discussion. I extended a warm invitation to him to visit West Bengal during the Durga Puja."
While leaving for Delhi, Adhikari said a false campaign had been launched alleging that migrant workers from Bengal were being harassed in other states. "The Haryana govt has questioned nearly 1,000 people, and 915 of them were Bangladeshis. They were illegal immigrants."
Sources said Adhikari flagged the issue of illegal migrants from Bangladesh in the state during his meeting with Shah
According to Bengal BJP functionaries, central netas asked them to launch an intense campaign to connect with Bengalis in the state and elsewhere in India during Durga Puja.
"The opposition has been campaigning on the issue of harassment of Bengali-speaking people in other states. It's a baseless charge. The issue needs to be addressed and people in the state need to be made aware of Bengali asmita (pride). Durga Puja is the best time to meet them," said a Bengal BJP leader.
Later in the day, the state unit decided at a meeting that netas would visit puja pandals and organise events to distribute saris by groups close to the BJP.
‘Convoy stopped', Sukanta writes to Barla: Union minister Sukanta Majumdar wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla after his convoy was stopped much before the NSCBI Airport entrance when he went to see off PM Modi on Monday. Majumdar moved a "breach of privilege motion and contempt of House" and urged the speaker to refer the matter to the privilege committee of the House.
"While police stopped my car at the first barricade, they allowed the convoy of (state minister) Sujit Bose to pass. This happened yesterday, too. Police officials told us there were instructions from senior officials. I would not have complained had they allowed the chief minister's convoy to pass. But they cannot discriminate between a state minister and a Union minister," Majumdar said.
