Helicopter Yatra

After the raths, the pushpak vimans. The BJP is hiring helicopters for its ‘Save Democracy’ mass contact programme in

West Bengal this month. The 40-day exercise, beginning December 7, will culminate in Kolkata in February with a rally that is being seen as a warm-up to the 2019 general election. Two helicopters will ferry 10 central ministers and five chief ministers of BJP-ruled states to various rallies. One helicopter will be kept for the exclusive use of party president Amit Shah, whose ‘Mission Bengal’ has set its sights on the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. Three air-conditioned raths will also criss-cross the state, highlighting the Narendra Modi government’s achievements and ruing the ‘collapse of democracy’ in Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has termed it a ‘Ravan Yatra’. Truly epic!