This Christmas Eve, PM Modi Will Recite Bhagavad Gita With 1.2 Lakh People in Kolkata

This Christmas eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Kolkata. However, he won’t be there to attend any political rally, but to recite the Bhagavad Gita.

“The Prime Minister has confirmed his presence," claimed Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Sukanta Majumdar on Friday afternoon, after he, along with the organisers, went to formally invite him for the event. “Coming 24th December, ‘Lokho Konthe Geeta Path’ committee has organised an event to recite the Gita in Kolkata’s brigade parade ground. On behalf of the organisers, saints came to Delhi to invite PM Modi to the event. I was also part of the delegation. PM Modi immediately confirmed his attendance," said Majumdar.

So far, more than 1,20,000 people have registered for the event, added Majumdar.

However, there’s a twist.

While Majumdar boasted about Bengal’s historical roots with ‘sanatan dharma’, he added that the organisers have decided to play the music of a celebrated Bengali icon, Kazi Nazrool Islam, “in accordance with the tradition of Bengal".

Sources in the organising committee, however, insisted the event is apolitical. They told News18 that the religious math, temples or organisations have come together to organise the event, with the idea to recite the Gita simultaneously “in one lakh voices".

But if Majumdar’s claim is to be taken into consideration, the crowd will swell past 1.2 lakh and counting. More than 3,600 Hindu organisations have consented to be a part of it.

News18 has learnt that the event is scheduled to start at 10am. Interestingly, the event will come less than a month before the grand inauguration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Bhagavad Gita — a Hindu scripture — is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer guide Krishna.

Just a few months before the Lok Sabha elections, the optics of India’s Prime Minister reciting the scripture along with 1.2 lakh individuals will be too powerful an image that may evoke an equally strong reaction from the opposition camp.