Summary:
Kolkata: In a bid to appeal to the Bengali pride and counter the BJP's Hindutva agenda, the ruling Trinamool Congress is on a statue-building spree of Bengali icons and spread their message on "secularism and inclusiveness" ahead of next year's civic polls in the state. "We have decided to erect statues of great personalities of Bengal in various parts of the state. Their messages will be inscribed on the plaques of the statues," a senior TMC leader said. The building of statues is a part of the party's strategy to counter the BJP's "agenda of aggressive Hindutva". All of a sudden, just because they can sense their defeat (in the polls), they want to hang on to something," BJP state secretary general Sayantan Basu said..