Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be in Kolkata on January 11 and 12. He is scheduled to be part of a programme to mark 150 years of the Kolkata Port Trust. The programme, to be held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on January 12, is also expected to have West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the same dais.
In the current political scenario, where Mamata Banerjee is among the most prominent leaders of the opposition to protest the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s policies of implementing National Register for Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), it would be interesting to see the two leaders on the same dais.
There are, in fact, speculations on what the PM might say on NRC-CAA in presence of Mamata Banerjee or during any of the programmes in Kolkata during his stay in the state. West Bengal, one of the non-BJP ruled states in the country, has seen protests from political parties as well as from individuals without the backing of political parties since the contentious CAA was passed in the Parliament last month.
This is the first time Narendra Modi is coming to Kolkata after being sworn-in as the PM for the second time since the Lok Sabha poll results were announced on May 23.
Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are being attacked almost every day by Banerjee during her protest rallies and public meetings opposing the NRC and CAA. Banerjee is leading a rally in Siliguri on Friday, and will lead many such rallies in north Bengal in the coming days. Shah too has attacked Banerjee in his recent speeches.
It is learnt that PM Modi might reach Kolkata on January 10 night or January 11 morning. He is expected to inaugurate the newly-lit Howrah Bridge on the evening of January 11. He will stay at Raj Bhawan on January 11 night. The following day – January 12 – is the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. There is possibility of the PM attending a programme to mark the occasion. On this day too, is the Kolkata Port Trust programme at Netaji Indoor Stadium, where Banerjee too is likely to be present.
As the Prime Minister is to spend a couple of days in the city, the state unit of the BJP is also trying to organise a public meeting that the PM can address. The exact details of the programme are not yet out due to security reasons.
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