CM Mamata Banerjee announces stipend for Hindu priests ahead of 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls

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Kolkata: The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (September 14, 2020) announced a stipend of Rs 1,000 per month for Hindu priests ahead of the state's 2021 Assembly polls.

“The Hindu priests had been demanding a stipend for a long time. Finally, we have decided to agree on their demands. We are going to pay a stipend of Rs 1,000. So far, 8,000 priests have enrolled themselves. More will be added to the list later,” said Banerjee while addressing a press conference at the state secretariat - Nabanna.

She added that the Bengal Housing Scheme will be extended to those priests who do not own a house.

“There are many priests who are managing to conduct only one or two pujas in a month. They cannot even afford to own a house. Hence, we will be extending our Bangla Awaas Yojana to them as well,” stated Banerjee.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also highlighted that work on the Hindi Academy will be expedited. “We have appointed a committee for strengthening our Hindi Academy,” she said.

Interestingly, this comes on a day, the ruling party in the state - Trinamool Congress announced the reconstitution of it’s ‘Hindi Cell’.

The Trinamool Congress appointed senior party leader Dinesh Trivedi as the President and Vivek Gupta as the Chairman of the Hindi Cell.

CM Banerjee also extended her wishes on the occasion of Hindi Diwas. She took to Twitter and wrote, “Warm wishes on Hindi Diwas. Bengal is a land of inclusivity and through our persistent efforts we have proudly inculcated Tagore’s values of ‘Unity in Diversity’."

Warm wishes on #HindiDiwas.Bengal is a land of inclusivity and through our persistent efforts we have proudly inculcated Tagore’s values of ‘Unity in Diversity’.GoWB has taken various initiatives to strengthen Hindi Education, Culture and Welfare of the community in Bengal (1/2) — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) September 14, 2020

She stated, "GoWB has taken various initiatives to strengthen Hindi Education, Culture and Welfare of the community in Bengal. GoWB has constantly persevered to undertake inclusive development for all by giving recognition to Hindi, Urdu, Gurmukhi, Ol Chiki, Rajbanshi, Kamtapuri, Kurukh languages. I urge the Centre to follow suit by also including Bengali as a classical language in NEP 2020.”