West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee announces rally in Kolkata on January 22
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced that she will lead a 'rally' with people of all religions in Kolkata on January 22 on the day when Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla will be performed in Ayodhya. "I will do a rally on January 22. It will begin from Kali Mandir, where I will visit to offer prayers to Maa Kaali. Following that, we will hold an interfaith rally from Hazra to Park Circus Maidan and hold a meeting there," West Bengal CM said. She further said that many people have been asking me about various temples but I have nothing to say. I have always said, "Dhorma Jaar Jaar, Utsob Shobaar" (Festival for all).
"We will cover mosques, temples, churches, and gurdwaras along the way. Everybody is welcome to join the rally. People of all faiths will be there at the rally," she added. CM Banerjee further said that on the same day, my party members will hold a rally in every block, in every district at 3 pm. "From January 20 to Feb 12, we will hold camps in every polling station where three of our officers will be present. People can give their names if they haven't been able to avail of our welfare schemes. This will be under the banner of Jono Sanjog programme," she said.
CM Banjeee has already announced to skip the Ayodhya ceremony calling it a pre-poll gimmick by the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
"Yesterday, I was asked about Ram Mandir... I believe in a festival that takes everyone together and talks about everyone. Do whatever you want; you are doing a gimmick before the elections. Do it; I have no problem but disregarding people of other communities is not right. I will never allow discrimination between Hindus and Muslims as long as I live," she said on January 9 while addressing a public distribution programme in South 24 Parganas.