Amid the continuing tussle with the Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party Monday shifted the venue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in North 24 Parganas' Thakurnaga. The February 2 rally will now be held at another ground nearby after the pre-decided venue was booked by TMC for week-long religious festivities. Clarifying the reasons behind the change in venue, the BJP said that it was changed as it did not meet the security guidelines for the prime minister and was also not big enough. "We will organise the rally on February 2 at Thakurnagar but the land or the venue where we were supposed to organise it has been changed and it has been shifted to another a nearby ground," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told PTI. It is to be noted that the Special Protection Group (SPG), which guards the prime minister was not happy with the selection of the Thakurnaga grounds and had expressed its reservations. The BJP-aligned faction of All India Matua Mahasangha is organising the rally. Modi's proposed rally is of immense political significance as the area is known as the hub of Matua community and is near the house of its matriarch Binapani Debi. Matuas with an estimated population of three million in Bengal exhorts influence in at least five Lok Sabha seats in North and South 24 Parganas districts. The BJP has planned a series of rallies of its top leaders, including PM Modi, party chief Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in West Bengal as it seeks to organise up to 200 public meetings by February 8 in the state to boost its tally of seats there in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Recently, citing upgradation of work, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government had denied permission to the state BJP to land party president Amit Shah’s chopper at the Malda airstrip ahead of his rally. Shah’s chopper landed at a private property near the venue, after which the rally was held as scheduled. Addressing the rally, Shah had said, "She was sure that if we take out the Rath yatras then it would signal her antim yatra (last journey). If you stop us from taking out Raths, we will take out rallies and hold meetings… If you do not let us land the chopper, then I will speak from the helicopter. The more you stop us and beat our workers, the more lotuses will bloom in Bengal.” Both the BJP and the TMC have been on a collision course in the state, with Mamata Banerjee recently organising an opposition's rally with over 20 leaders from across political parties expressing solidarity for taking on Modi in Lok Sabha elections.
