Prime Minister Narendra Modi has penned a letter in Bengali urging people of West Bengal to vote wisely in the upcoming polls.
The letter, which begins with ‘Joy maa Kali’, is being distributed door-to-door, months ahead of the high-stakes assembly polls in the state. A Hindi language version was also shared online.
The letter begins with ‘Joy Maa Kali’ – a praise for the goddess Kali. The letter mentions Bengal’s historical record of being the home state of many great personalities, including Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, and asserts that Bengal needed a “new direction”.
Joy Maa Kali (or Jai Maa Kali) is a powerful Sanskrit/Bengali invocation that translates to “Victory to Mother Kali.”
In the letter, the prime minister of the ruling Trinamool Congress for the state’s “under-development” and alleged the people of ‘shonar Bangla’, or ‘golden Bengal’ had been “cheated”.
“The men, women and children of my dream of Sonar Bangla are today facing extreme deprivation. Their pain weighs heavily on my heart. From the depths of my being, I have taken a pledge – to develop and transform West Bengal into a prosperous state,” he wrote.
The letter assumes significance as it will be seen as a direct appeal to the public before the election, which is being seen as a fierce TMC vs BJP battle.
The Maa Kali greeting
The ‘Joy Maa Kali’ greeting is a deviation from earlier BJP greetings. Until recently, the BJP’s campaign in Bengal would begin with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ The shift to ‘Joy aa Kali’ and ‘Joy Maa Durga’ is seen as BJP’s attempt at aligning with Bengal’s sociocultural ethos. On Sunday, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta began her address at a BP Mahila Morcha event in Kolkata, praising Maa Durga “You must invoke power of Durga within yourselves to protest your honour. No one else will do it for you,” she said.
The letter underlines the Bharatiya Janata Party’s repeated allegation that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government looks the other way when foreign nationals, mostly from Bangladesh, cross over illegally in exchange for votes.
PM Modi also referred to the Citizenship Amendment Act and said the BJP, if elected to power in Bengal, would ensure citizenship to all non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, who claim to be fleeing those countries on grounds of religious persecution.
The letter claims that, over the past two terms, the Central government under him, tried to prioritize the overall development of the state, including launching schemes for farmers, young people, women, and the poorer sections of society. But the Bengal government did not cooperate, he alleged.
The schemes, funded by the federal government, had reached millions of people in West Bengal, the Prime Minister said, giving examples like Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, and Ayushman Bharat, the centre’s flagship universal healthcare scheme.
“Bengal has been tainted by illegal infiltration and violence against women. This state has been caught in narrow, vote bank politics, violence, and anarchy. Fake voters are gaining dominance. We must free ourselves from illegal infiltration and adopt good governance,” the PM wrote.
PM Modi ends the letter invoking Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s role in keeping West Bengal an integral part of India and calls on people to take a pledge to build a “Developed West Bengal” by 2026. Mookerjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (precursor to the BJP), is a pivotal ideological figure for the BJP.
The men, women, and children of my dream of Sonar Bangla are today facing extreme deprivation. Their pain weighs heavily on my heart.
The TMC has not responded yet to the letter.
