Bangladesh
Orakandi Indian PM Narendra Modi likely to visit Gopalganj's Orakandi
Dhaka, March 4: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Bangladesh on a state visit later this month. He will be visiting the country after almost six years. During his visit, India has made an informal request to the Bangladesh government to allow its Prime Minister to visit Orakandi village, a holy place of pilgrimage for Hindus belonging to the Matua community in Gopalganj district.
Meanwhile, a nine-member delegation of the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh visited Orakandi in Gopalganj and Sugandha Shakti Peeth in Barisal last week. Reports said that Narendra Modi is keen to visit these two places of pilgrimage during his visit.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is also in Dhaka to finalise various aspects of Modi's visit to Bangladesh on Thursday. Whether Orakandi will be included in Modi's itinerary is likely to be decided at a meeting of Dhaka officials with Jaishankar.
The Matuas are a sect of the lower caste Hindus, who follow the doctrines introduced by the nineteenth-century guru Harichand Thakur and his son Guruchand Thakur. Orakandi was the birthplace of both Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur. And the ‘Thakurbari’ of that village is a sacred holy land to millions of Matuas spread all over the world.
No Indian Prime Minister has ever visited Orakandi before. As a result, if Narendra Modi really goes there, he will be able to send a positive message to the Matuas.
About one and a half crore Matuas live all over West Bengal. The Matua vote in 65 to 70 constituencies in the state is expected to decide the outcome. Prime Minister Modi's visit to Orakandi in the run-up to the West Bengal Assembly elections could bring political benefits to the BJP.
