Ram Navami celebrations peaceful in Bengal, TMC leaders also participate in processions

With the apprehension of tension over the Ram Navami celebrations, almost the entire state, especially 10 identified sensitive zones and routes of the scheduled processions, were wrapped under blanket security cover and camera surveillance throughout the day.

The centre of attraction was the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Temple, modelled after the iconic Ayodhya Ram Mandir, at Nandigram in East Midnapore district, from where the elected legislator is the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

The Leader of the Opposition, at the same time, participated in a Ram Navami celebration at Bhawanipur in South Kolkata, where the elected representative is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Other senior BJP leaders, namely state party president and the Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar and the former national vice president of the party Dilip Ghosh, had also participated in a number of processions taken out on the auspicious occasion.

Both Majumdar and Ghosh accused the state government of creating unnecessary panic among people by making so many elaborate security arrangements as well as imposing so many restrictions on the Ram Navami processions.

Both the leaders claimed that such security arrangements and restrictions are made only when the question is any Hindu religious festival. "When people are being killed throughout the state because of the police, the police do not feel the necessity to track weapons. But the same police became too inquisitive in tracking weapons at spontaneous Ram Navami celebrations, said Ghosh.

The Trinamool Congress leaders who participated in similar Ram Navami processions include the party's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh and party Lok Sabha members Shatabi Roy and Asit Kumar Mal, among others. In almost all the rallies in which the Trinamool Congress leaders participated, there was the presence of party supporters hailing from a religious minority community.

Political observers feel that this overwhelming participation of ruling party leaders in Ram Navami processions is an attempt to send a message to people that the Trinamool Congress is not against Ram Navami celebrations.

"There is a famous saying that 'if you cannot beat them, join them.' Considering the euphoria among people this year over the Ram Navami celebration in West Bengal, the ruling party leaders too thought it wise to join the celebration, especially amid the crucial state Assembly elections next year," said a city-based political analyst.