Ram Navami: Suvendu takes part in procession at Bhabanipur; tight security in Howrah, Hooghly

Suvendu Adhikari greets during a religious procession to mark the `Ram Navami` festival, in Kolkata. Pic/PTI

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday participated in a Ram Navami procession in Bhabanipur, a constituency in south Kolkata where the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly is set to take on incumbent MLA and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming polls.

Tight security arrangements have been made across the state, with special focus on Howrah and Hooghly districts that witnessed unrest in previous years on this occasion.

Ram Navami processions by Anjani Putra Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad are scheduled during the day in Howrah city.

The Calcutta High Court has allowed these two processions with certain restrictions and with direction to the police to make necessary security arrangements, after the organisers moved the court on the ground that permission was not granted by the local police.

The procession in Bhabanipur, which was attended by Adhikari, traversed through the length and breadth of the Assembly segment before culminating at Hazra crossing, about a kilometre from Chief Minister Banerjee's residence.

The BJP has fielded Adhikari from Bhabanipur, where Mamata Banerjee looks to retain the seat she had won in a bypoll after she was defeated by Adhikari at Nandigram in the 2021 assembly elections.

Ram Navami processions were also taken out in other parts of the state, including in Islampur town in Uttar Dinajpur district and Siuri in Birbhum district.

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