KOLKATA: With nine constituencies going to the polls in the last phase on June 1, the BJP seems to be appropriating Swami Vivekananda to mobilize voters.
The party could not win any of the nine constituencies — Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Joynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata South and Kolkata North — in the last elections in 2019.
Before his roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday, PM Narendra Modi had gone to pay a visit to the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda at Shimla Street in North Kolkata. He also went to visit the house of Ma Sarada at Bagbazar, also in North Kolkata.
The PM will begin his 48-hour meditation at Dhyan Mandapam in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the same spot where Swami Vivekananda had meditated in 1892. The Rock Memorial monument was built to pay tribute to the philosopher-saint.
PM Modi’s move has drawn criticism from Opposition, especially the Trinamool Congress. On the last day of the campaign on Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee mocked PM Modi and claimed, “Anyone can go and meditate. Does anyone take a camera while meditating?”
Senior BJP leaders refused to pay heed to Mamata’s criticism, saying Prime Minister Modi is an ardent follower of Swami Vivekananda. They said that the TMC was desperately trying to tarnish the image of Modi because “the party is facing imminent defeat in the polls”.