Mission Bengal: JP Nadda To Hold Mega Roadshow In Mamata's Turf, Will Launch 'Ek Muthi Chawal' Campaign

The BJP chief will float the Ek Muthi Chawal (fistful of rice) project, under which party workers will collect rice from farmers’ homes and brief them about the new farm laws

BJP President JP Nadda (PTI)

Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda will be in West Bengal today, leading the party’s door-to-door canvassing and also to launch a new campaign ‘Ek Muthi Chawal’ (a fistful of rice grains) to dispel the opposition’s charge that the BJP government at the Centre is anti-farmer. According to a party functionary, Nadda will launch the campaign in Burdwan district of the election-bound state and the process will be carried forward by party workers who will visit farming households across 48,000 villages to collect rice. Nadda, in a bid to blunt opposition camp's "anti- farmer" allegations against the BJP-led central government, will float 'Ek Muthi Chawal' (a fistful of rice), a project under which he would collect rice from farmers' homes and brief them about the benefits of the new legislations. Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at Delhi borders for over a month against the three laws. They have stayed put despite heavy rains and waterlogging at protest sites over the last couple of days, besides severe cold weather conditions prevailing in and around the national capital. "After our party president launches the campaign, our cadres will fan out to 48,000 villages of the state, where they will be visiting households of farmers to collect rice and brief them about the new farm laws. Nadda ji will address rallies, have lunch at a farmer's residence and hold a gram sabha meeting, during his visit," party leaders said. There are 71.23 lakh farmers' families in West Bengal, 96 percent of them small and marginal. According to state BJP, Nadda's visit assumes immense significance as this will be his first visit to the state after the attack on his convoy during his journey to Diamond Harbour from the city on 10 December. The Home Ministry had subsequently summoned three IPS officers to serve in central deputation, following the alleged security lapses which led to the attack on Nadda, kicking off a Centre-State war and leaving CM Mamata Banerjee fuming. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda would visit the state every month until the end of assembly elections. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will meet Home Minister Amit Shah West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah today. Dhankar will submit a report on the current situation in Bengal to Shah as the assembly elections are just around the corner. Governor's meeting with the Home Minister holds high significance in the poll-bound state. JP Nadda's program for today

• At 11 am, Kazi Nazrul Islam will reach the airport from Delhi and will leave for Katwa by helicopter.
• 11.40 am to worship at Radha Govind Temple in Jagadanandpur village
• From 11.50 am to 12.45 am, farmers will address security at the Gram Sabha in Jagadanandpur village
• Between 12.45 pm and 1 pm, on the way to a farmer's house in Jagadanandpur village, a handful of people will collect rice from people's homes
• From 1 to 1.40 pm, farmers will have lunch at Jagdanandpur village
• Katwa will leave Helipad at 1.45 pm for Bardhaman and reach Bardhaman helipad at 2.05 pm
• Bhardhaman will reach the district BJP office between 2.10 and 2.20 in the afternoon and a half-hour time reserve has been kept here.
• From 3.05 to 3.10 in the afternoon, he will visit the Sarvamangala temple
• Road show will be done in Bardhaman from 3.20 pm to 4.30 pm. The roadshow starts at Bardhaman Clock Tower and ends at Lord Curzon Gate.
• Will hold press conference at Sinclair Resort from 5.30 to 6.15 pm
• We will have a meeting with the core group at Sinclair Resort from 6.20 to 7.20 pm.
• After this, Qazi will leave for Nazrul Airport and will leave for Delhi at 9.15 pm.