Saraswati Puja in poll bound Bengal, an opportunity for political parties to connect with public

Saraswati Puja and Basant Panchami was celebrated across West Bengal with great enthusiasm on Tuesday. This time, the excitement was perhaps a bit more for various political parties and politicians as it served as an opportunity for them to interact with people through festivity and public service.

Members and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress organised Saraswati puja in various parts of the state, and included social and public service of distributing food, prasad and warm clothes among people as a way of connecting with them, a good opportunity of public connect ahead of the Assembly elections, scheduled a couple of months from now. In Nadia’s Ranaghat, the BJP’s youth front even distributed Saraswati idols among people.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh participated in a puja in Panchla, Howrah. BJP senior leader Suvendu Adhikari inaugurated three puja pandals in Nandigram of East Midnapore, and distributed warm clothes among the poor.

Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra was present at a college in south Kolkata with students on the occasion, where he sand and celebrated with the young people. Trinamool legislator from Tollygunge, Aroop Biswas, offered pushpanjali at an event and praised chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her support and dedication towards Bengal. The party’s MP Aparupa Poddar offered puja in a pandal in Hooghly district.

Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury also participated in a programme involving Saraswati Puja. He was present at Calcutta University offering pushpanjali along with some students.

Tableaux with songs and dances, posters with wishes from political parties were seen across the state. Saraswati Puja organised by the ruling party also contained records of various projects of the education department of the state government.