PM Modi invited for mass chanting of Bhagavat Gita in Kolkata

Three Hindu organisations have invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a mass chanting of Bhagavat Gitaat an event at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds on December 24, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said.

Amid speculations that the BJP plans to use the event to reach out to Bengal’s Hindu voters in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Sukanta Majumdar, the party’s state president, accompanied the organisers to Delhi on Friday to invite the Prime Minister.

“Our Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji has accepted our invitation to grace us with his presence at the event on 24th December at the Brigade Parade Ground, Kolkata, where lakhs of people will gather and resonate the virtues of Sanatana Dharma...,” Majumdar announced on his social media page after meeting the PM.

Majumdar, however, claimed the BJP is not linked to the event.

“The organisers will invite legislators from all parties, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP is not holding this event. I accompanied the organisers because they sought my help. They said they needed someone to approach the Prime Minister’s Office on their behalf since they don’t know anybody out there,” Majumdar told the media after returning to Kolkata on Saturday.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “Chanting verses from the Gita is always good for people but for the BJP, this is not going to help in the coming elections.”

The mass chanting, the first of its kind to be held in Bengal, is being organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad, Sanatan Sanskriti Sanshad and Motilal Bharat Tirth Seva Mission Ashram.

The first two organisations held a fair on the lines of the Kumbh Mela in Bengal’s Nadia district in February this year.

“All Indians are free to attend the December event. This has nothing to do with politics or Hindutva,” Pradiptanand, president of Sanatan Sanskriti Sanshad, said at a press conference on Saturday.