Kolkata: Anubrata Mandal, president of the Trinamool Congress in Birbhum district of West Bengal, on Monday organised an event to felicitate Hindu priests in a move seen at countering the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) allegation of Muslim appeasement against the state’s ruling party.

Trinamool Congress leaders in Birbhum claimed Mandal brought together some 12,000 priests from within the district and those neighbouring it.

The BJP’s vote share in Birbhum district has been rising: in the 2014 general election, its candidate Joy Banerjee had received 18.47% of votes compared with 4.62% five years earlier.

Ahead of the panchayat election later this year, Mandal was trying to consolidate support among Hindu voters, BJP leaders alleged.

Mandal denied the event with priests had anything to do with the BJP’s gains in recent elections. He said at the event that if ever he had to take lessons in Hindutva he would learn from these priests.

The event was announced on 18 December, the day the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections were declared. Since then, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has publicly defended her proximity to the Muslim community, has visited two Hindu shrines.

The Gujarat elections have led to new political practices across the country, said Dilip Ghosh, the BJP president in West Bengal. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has started to visit temples, and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is trying to connect with Brahmins, he said, claiming the change to be a “moral victory" for the BJP.

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