kolkata

Updated: Jul 10, 2017 18:24 IST

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) will organise a mega sant sammelan in Kolkata on July 13 to chalk out the way forward in post-Basirhat Bengal. Hindu religious leaders and priests attached with various temples from different parts of West Bengal have been invited to the event.

“The gathering has been called to discuss plans for protecting Hindu pride in the wake of the West Bengal government’s excessive Muslim appeasement and to combat Muslim aggression,” said Sourish Mukherjee, VHP’s West Bengal spokesperson.

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The convention has been called by the outfit’s marg darshak mandal (body for setting guiding principles) for the state. Devananda Brahmachari Maharaj, the chief of Prem Mandir Ashram at Rishra in Hooghly district will be the convener of the gathering. Paramatma Nandanath Bhairav Giri Maharaj, founder of Bramhamoyee Kali Bari at Baranagar in north Kolkata, is also supposed to attend.

A VHP rally in April in Kolkata demanding the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. ( Samir Jana )

Bandhu Gourab Brahmachari, the executive head of the Mahanam Math in Nabadwip, Nadia district, is also scheduled to attend the meet, apart from several central leaders of the VHP.

The convention will be held at Mahajati Sadan on July 13 evening. Several dozen Hindu religious leaders and activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal are expected to be present at the auditorium that can accommodate about 1,300 people.

“Hindu saints, priests and social organisations are deeply concerned with the recent state of affairs in West Bengal, especially with the chain of events at Basirhat and Baduria. The saints and the priests will discuss the situation and show the way ahead,” Mukherjee said.

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The event was planned last week, when Baduria and Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district was still in the grip of communal tension and violence.

“I will not attend to preach violence. India’s social reality does not permit one community’s aggression against another. Hindus cannot drive away people of other faiths. Akhand Hindu empire is a utopian idea. Our reality requires peaceful coexistence of people with different faiths. Communal harmony has to be the motto,” Paramatma Nandanath Bhairav Giri Maharaj, founder of Bramhamoyee Kali Bari at Baranagar in the northern fringes of Kolkata told HT.