Mamta Banerjee worshiping. Image Credit source: Facebook
CM Mamata Banerjee has announced a two-day holiday in West Bengal on Chhath Puja. Along with this, Mamata Banerjee is targeting the central government regarding the holiday on Chhath Puja and is claiming that the Bengal government gives two days holiday on Chhath Puja, but the central government does not give holiday on Chhath Puja. Political analysts say that Mamata Banerjee is trying to woo the Hindi speaking people of the state by giving two days holiday on Chhath Puja.
Let us tell you that in Bengal, the festival of Chhath Puja is mostly celebrated by Hindi speaking people. Hindi speaking people are settled in large numbers in many areas of North Bengal including Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Asansol, Durgapur and organize Chhath Puja with pomp and show.
Like the Hindi speaking regions, Chhathavrati is present in large numbers on the banks of the Ganga Ghat in the districts including the capital Kolkata of Bengal and offers Arghya to Lord Sun. Arrangements are made for them by the state government.
Mamta’s efforts to woo Hindi speaking people
There are a large number of Hindi speaking voters among the urban voters of Bengal and Mamata Banerjee is trying to woo those voters. There is often a perception in Bengal that Hindi speaking voters are supporters of BJP. In such a situation, Mamata Banerjee is trying to woo those Hindi speaking voters through Chhath Puja.
There are Lok Sabha elections next year. There are a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and in the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had challenged Mamata Banerjee by winning 18 seats and now Mamata Banerjee is trying her best to increase the number of seats won by BJP in the state. This should be reduced and the support of Hindi speaking people will be very important in this.
Like every year, the Chief Minister participated in the Chhath Puja celebrations at Dahighat in Kolkata Port area on Sunday. Later she herself participated in the worship of Chhath Devi.
Central government does not give leave, target of Mamta
In her speech, Mamata Banerjee said, “For your information, there will be a holiday on Monday also. I have given two days leave on the occasion of Chhath Puja. As you know, no holiday is given for Chhath Puja even in Delhi. Our government gives holidays on all pujas.”
He said that I give two days leave for Eid. I also give leave for Chhath and many other pujas. I also give leave on Kali Puja. “The people who live in Bengal love Bengal more than us.” Political analysts say that in order to attract the support of Hindi speaking people towards the government, apart from mentioning the Chhath Puja holiday, the Chief Minister also mentioned those holidays which are not given by the Modi government.
The Chief Minister said, “During Chhath Puja, mothers and sisters perform this puja by fasting for 36 hours. I also did not eat anything to support him. Gangasagar is also worshiped in my name. The land on which Ganga flows always remains sacred. That’s why we salute him.”
She said, “I thank the Information and Culture Department for the way the puja has been organized at various ghats. I will come as long as I am alive. This is my promise. I have been coming here for 20 years.”
Also read- Chhath Puja 2023: Women offered Arghya to the setting sun on the third day, prayed to Chhathi Maiya for the birth of a child.
