Chhath Puja 2018: With an aim to woo Hindi-speaking voters, especially those hailing from Bihar, in West Bengal ahead of Lok Sabha 2019, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a two-day holiday for Chhath Puja this year. All the state governments offices will be closed on November 13. Wednesday, November 14 will be a “Sectional holiday” for the employees who will be taking part in the festivity and celebrations.

Taking to Facebook and Twitter, CM Banerjee said, “Heartiest greetings to all my brothers and sisters on the auspicious occasion of Chhath Puja”. Apart from this Chhath Puja will be live streamed today. “Watch #ChhathPuja live from Ganga ghats today. On my #Facebook page. 4:30 PM (indicative time) onwards,” the TMC Supremo said on her Facebook and Twitter handles.

Read Mamata Banerjee’s Chhath Puja 2018 tweet

Why is Mamata wooing non-Bengali voters?

Biharis and Hindi-speaking communities form a sizable population in the state and have been in Bengal from as early as the partition. As per unofficial estimates, an approximate 13-14 million residents of the state are non-Bengali speaking, of which Biharis and Marawaris constitute a major chunk. Moreover, recent election results have shown BJP growing its influence in certain pockets across the state, especially in areas where the non-Bengali population resides.

To counter that, CM Banerjee in September announced the setting up of a Hindi wing in the Trinamool Congress and urged Hindi-speaking people to consider her as their “daughter”. Launching an attack on BJP, Mamata said that the saffron party only seeks votes from Hindi-speaking people but has not done anything. “TMC stands by Hindi-speaking people on a daily basis.” She also alleged that Biharis were forced to leave from BJP-ruled Gujarat.

In September, she sent a message of unity between Biharis and Benaglis. “Many Biharis are settled in Bengal. Similarly, many Bengalis are settled in Bihar. In both places, all are living happily together. We do not believe in making any division, be it on the basis of religion or language. But an attempt is made to create division among people… So we should unite against this dangerous trend.”

It’s no longer a secret that Banerjee is trying to stitch an alliance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah-led BJP for Lok Sabha 2019. In the aftermath of demonetisation and GST implementation, she has turned her focus to the Hindi belt. Her calculative move will not just connect her to Hindi-speaking masses and send a message to BJP that TMC is also capable of denting their non-Bengali vote banks in the state.