Kolkata, June 7 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Bengal this month for twin programmes, one administrative and the other political.

A BJP state committee member said, “On May 29, the Prime Minister addressed a political rally at Alipurduar in North Bengal, but this time, he might address a similar rally in South Bengal.”

The state BJP leadership, he added, is keen that this time the political rally that the Prime Minister might address would be at Nandigram in East Midnapore district, where the elected legislator is the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

“The political rally can coincide with an official programme of the Kolkata Metro Green Line. The state unit had sent a proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office proposing a possible schedule for the Prime Minister in the state on this matter. On receiving confirmation from the Prime Minister’s office, updated information will be provided,” the state committee member said.

He added that the state unit of the BJP is also keen that the twin programmes this month happen on June 20, considering the significance of the day for West Bengal.

June 20 is historically considered Bangla Day (Foundation Day of West Bengal) since on that day in 1947, the decision to establish the state of West Bengal was sealed by a vote in the Bengal Provincial Legislative Assembly.

However, there are controversies on the issue since the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government had already declared ‘Poila Baishakh’, the first day of the Bengali calendar, as the ‘Bangla Day’ or the ‘Foundation Day’ of West Bengal.

CM Banerjee contended that June 20 was not acceptable as the ‘Foundation Day of West Bengal’, considering the day’s associations with the partition of India and undivided Bengal and the pain associated with that history.

On May 29, Prime Minister Modi, while addressing the rally at Alipurduar, highlighted five crisis points that West Bengal was reportedly saddled with under the current Trinamool Congress government.

Just three days after that, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while addressing a political gathering at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, claimed that Mamata Banerjee was “pained” by the success of Operation Sindoor, the strike, through which the Indian Armed Forces destroyed several terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

–IANS

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