BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari. Credit: X/ANI
Kolkata: Senior BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari and several party leaders participated in a procession in Kolkata on Saturday to spread a message of unity among Hindus.
The march, branded as 'Shourya Yatra', commenced from the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda and culminated at Shyambazar five-point crossing in northern Kolkata, covering a distance of 1.7 km.
During the procession, organised by apolitical religious organisation 'Singha Bahini', many participants and monks were seen brandishing tridents and raising slogans for unity among Hindus ahead of the 2026 assembly polls in West Bengal.
The procession was organised on December 6, which marks the anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.
"The 70 per cent Hindus of the state need to unite to defeat 'jihadi' elements and ensure a Ram rajya for good governance. We only wish to assert that this rally is against the attempt by fundamentalist forces to turn West Bengal into Bangladesh," a BJP leader, participating in the procession, said.
A sizeable number of people from the Matua community and several belonging to backward castes were also on the forefront of the rally.
Adhikari, who led the march, claimed that the time has come for all "devout Hindus to unite and assemble against the appeasement-friendly Trinamool Congress, which was all set to change the demographic character of Bengal".
"We will not let that happen. Hindus of different castes and creeds are united as shown in this gathering," the BJP leader said.
Adhikari said the rally was taken out to pay tribute to karsevaks (religious volunteers), who contributed to the Ram temple movement.