West Bengal polls: With prayers at Kali temple, Modi counters TMC veg claim

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi connected Sunday prayed astatine Thanthania Kalibari - 1 of the fewer abodes of goddess Kali wherever nutrient is offered arsenic 'prasad' - earlier his roadshow successful Kolkata successful what governmental circles interpreted arsenic his emphatic awesome to voters to dispel TMC's projection of BJP arsenic a 'north Indian party' steeped successful vegetarianism and uneasy with Bengal's nutrient habits rooted successful non-vegetarian meals.Thanthania Kalibari, wherever the deity is worshipped arsenic Maa Siddheshwari, is 1 of the oldest and astir revered Kali temples of Kolkata and is believed to person been frequented by Ramakrishna Paramahansa, wherever helium sang hymns to the goddess.CM Mamata Banerjee has led TMC's complaint that if elected to office, BJP volition question to curb the state's meat-eating nutrient habits and substitute them with the signifier of northbound Indian states, wherever non-vegetarian repast depletion is frowned upon during religiously auspicious days.Her projection of BJP arsenic a enactment of outsiders unfamiliar to Bengali values has been cardinal to her governmental attacks, pushing the nationalist enactment to marque concerted efforts to dispel the narrative.BJP functionaries, including MP Anurag Thakur, had shared their pictures eating 'maach-bhat' during their run successful Bengal.The sojourn of Modi, himself a vegetarian who observes fasting during Navratras, to the temple volition thrust the connection home, BJP hopes.

This signifier of non-vegetarian 'prasad' was started by Ramakrishna Paramahansa, 1 of the astir revered spiritual figures successful the state. When helium fell sick, his followers prayed astatine the temple for his speedy recovery, serving non-vegetarian 'prasad' to the deity.