2 min readKolkataApr 5, 2013 04:18 AM IST
First published on: Apr 5, 2013 at 04:18 AM IST
GUJARAT Chief Minister Narendra Modi will visit Dakshineswar temple and Ramakrishna Mission in Belur during his trip to West Bengal. However,he will visit the religious shrines as an ordinary devotee,not as a VIP,and pray with other devotees during the scheduled time for darshan.
“One can go there as an ordinary devotee also and Modiji will do exactly that,” Rahul Sinha,state BJP president,said.
When contacted,the authorities at Belur Mutt said they had no information about Modi’s visit. “Nobody told us about his visit. In any case,the doors of the mission are open to all,” a spokesperson of the mission said.
Modi will arrive in Kolkata on April 8 evening. On April 9,he will address an interactive session with members of three chambers of commerce of Kolkata —- the Bharat Chamber,MCC chamber and Indian Chamber of Commerce —- as well as a meeting of BJP office-bearers and karyakartas at district and block levels.
“First we arranged for a civic reception for Modiji at Netaji Indoor Stadium but since the government did not give us permission,he told us to arrange the interaction,” said party general secretary Shamik Bhattacharya,general secretary of the state unit,said.
The state leaders are also busy trying to make Modi more acceptable to the minority communities,something Modi himself tried to do during his Sadbhavna Yatra last year.
“We are arranging several programmes with the Muslim community where we are telling them Modiji was synonymous with development,that Muslims in Gujarat are better off than their counterparts in other states. Yesterday I went to South 24 Parganas where we enrolled a couple of hundred Muslims as our members,” Bhattacharya said.
Sinha also said the Gujarat CM laid great importance on his visit to Bengal. “He is starting with the birthplace of Shyamaprasad Mookerjee,the founder of our party,and he told us he is looking forward to the visit,” Sinha added.
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