KOLKATA: At the onset of Bengalis' biggest festival Durga Puja, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's digital address virtually set the centre stage for West Bengal's crucial electoral battle scheduled in 2021.
The programme started via live-streaming as the Prime Minister inaugurated 10 Puja Pandals of the state addressing all the organisers simultaneously through video-conferencing.
Clad in traditional Bengali dhoti and kurta, senior BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leaders from Delhi, like KailashVijayvargiya, ArvindMenon and others, who are in-charge of Bengal for the BJP, took part in a programme at the Eastern Regional Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Salt Lake on the occasion of 'Mahashthi'.
Durga Puja is being jointly organized for the first time at EZCC by the state BJP's women's arm MahilaMorcha and the party's cultural cell.
"We are trying to ensure fast-track development schemes for the people of Bengal. We are doing everything to reduce the problems of people in the state and improve their quality of life. We have adopted the vision of Purbaday to develop Eastern India and West Bengal will play a pivotal role in that," said Modi, during his 20-minutes long address.
Thursday's event turned quite significant for the state's political battlefield as the saffron brigade joined in organisingDurga Puja event in the state to capitalise on the festive sentiments of its residents.
Earlier, the Congress and the incumbent Trinamool Congress leaders were only seen organising big pujas across the state which they mostly used as an annual platform to socialise with common people. Now the state BJP also joined the same religious bandwagon in Bengal. Large screens were put up in many parts of the state for broadcasting the Prime Minister's virtual address. A host of cultural events also took place at EZCC where union environment and forest minister Babul Supriyo and current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president SauravGanguly's wife Dona Ganguly, along with their daughter, Sana, performed with a dancing troupe. (IANS)