Ram Navami posters with photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari surfaced in key spots across Kolkata on Monday (March 31, 2025), days before the occasion slated for April 6.
The posters have been put up in large numbers in locations such as Shyambazar in north Kolkata and the long arterial stretch of central Kolkata. The posters emerged on Monday (March 31, 2025), the same day that Id-ul-Fitr is being celebrated nationwide.
Alongside Mr. Modi and Mr. Adhikari’s photographs, the posters carry a picture of Ayodhya’s Ramjanmabhoomi Temple and of Lord Ram, with the line ‘Ram Navami palan korun’ (Celebrate Ram Navami) written in Bengali text. The bottom of the poster mentions Mr. Adhikari’s full name, as president of Sri Sri Sankhananda Jagannath Mandir of Mecheda in Purba Medinipur district.
This development follows a series of public statements by BJP leaders in West Bengal this month urging Hindus to come out in large numbers and celebrate Ram Navami on a large scale. Mr. Adhikari, who is the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, claimed that over one crore Hindus will partake in 2,000 rallies on Ram Navami across the State this year.
Ram temple
He also announced the inauguration of the construction of a Ram temple at Sonachura in the southern end of Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district on the day of Ram Navami. “I invite women to turn up in thousands with conch shells at 10 a.m. on Ram Navami… we will build a Ram temple like the one in Ayodhya,” Mr. Adhikari announced earlier this month.
Meanwhile, a local BJP leader at Shantipur in the Nadia district, Chanchal Chakraborty, was caught on video announcing on the streets that there would be an armed rally on Ram Navami in Nadia, with “flags, sticks, and weapons carried by Hindu gods and goddesses like tridents and machetes”.
“Bharat is Ram and Ram is Bharat. Ram Pachali has been observed in every house of West Bengal before Ramcharitmanas was written. Why will BJP stay silent and tolerate the segregation of Ram from Bengal and the attacks on the majority of Bengal’s population?” BJP MP and chief spokesperson of the party’s West Bengal unit Samik Bhattacharya asked on Monday (March 31, 2025).
Mamata’s claim
However, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (March 31, 2025) alleged that religious disharmony and riots are being instigated among the people of West Bengal by the Left and the BJP. The same was echoed by other party leaders and Ministers.
“There are forces attempting to erode this harmony, to divide communities, to turn brother against brother. But Bengal has never bowed to the politics of hate, nor will it ever,” national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress Abhishek Banerjee posted on X on Monday (March 31, 2025).
State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Md. Salim accused the BJP and the Trinamool of “becoming one and the same under the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh flag” during the week of Id and Ram Navami festivities.
Over the past few years, West Bengal has witnessed multiple cases of communal clashes and violence being reported at Ram Navami celebrations.
The West Bengal police on Saturday (March 29, 2025) said they would keep a close watch for the coming 10 days on Id-ul-Fitr and Ram Navami celebrations, especially in certain regions prone to communal violence.
Top officials claimed that according to their intelligence, plans are being made in certain circles to incite communal tensions and communal violence between different communities on and before these occasions.
“We have found out that certain provocative posters and placards were going to be put up in various places with the intention to create hostility between people of different communities and religious beliefs,” Supratim Sarkar, Additional Director General of Police (South Bengal), said on Saturday (March 29, 2025). He advised people not to heed to rumours or fall for provocation.
Published – March 31, 2025 10:49 pm IST
