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Updated: Oct 17, 2019 01:03 IST

With the end of Durga Puja, Bengal’s political parties are back on the streets.

The West Bengal unit of the BJP on Wednesday launched its Gandhi Sankalp Yatra during which every MP of the party in the state has been given a target of walking 100 km in 10 days, to preach Gandhi’s ideology on non-violence in a bid to campaign against political violence allegedly perpetrated by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The Bengal programme was launched by BJP state president Dilip Ghosh from Kharagpur.

“This yatra is being taken out by BJP to preach Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence and cleanliness to the present generation. The motive of the rally is to reach out to the masses with the principles of non-violence when political violence unleashed by TMC has gripped the state,” Ghosh said, according to PTI.

Earlier, on the occasion of Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary on October 2, BJP president Amit Shah launched nation-wide campaign.

The TMC, on the other hand, will carry out “Sampriti Jatra” (walk for harmony) between October 19 and 24, during which party leaders will exchange greetings with the people on the occasion of the festive season in the state.

The ruling party also mocked Gandhi Sankalp Yatra with senior TMC leader Ajit Maity called it “the biggest joke of the decade”.

“Those who are preachers of Nathuram Godse are now taking out Gandhi Sankalp Yatra. This is the biggest joke of the decade. This is nothing but a farce. BJP is trying to fool the masses,” he said.

The BJP and the TMC have been at loggerheads in Bengal and supporters of the two parties have clashed frequently over the past one year. The clashes became more intense this year in the run up to the Lok Sabah elections and have continued intermittently since then.