Hindutva, more in your face than ever, powered the BJP’s final push in the heart of Calcutta as campaigning ended on Monday.

Suvendu Adhikari, who is taking on Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, led a 3.5km march from Purna cinema on SP Mukherjee Road to Minto Park, between 4pm and 5.15pm.

He ended his campaign with a visit to the 23 Palli Durga temple on Harish Mukherjee Road, where he prostrated himself before the idol.

“I ended my campaign praying to Ma Durga and Mahadev. Their blessings are with me.... People who believe in Sanatan Dharma, I urge them to save Bengal in this election,” Suvendu told reporters outside the temple, less than 1km from Mamata’s home in Harish Chatterjee Street.

“I seek the blessings of janata janardan (voters).... My opponent keeps berating the Hindu religion. She opposed the Ram Mandir; she called the Maha Kumbh a Mrityu Kumbh. She does not have the blessings of Sanatanis.”

Mamata had used the term “Mrityu Kumbh” after a stampede, blamed largely on mismanagement by the Yogi Adityanath government, killed at least 30 people during last year’s Maha Kumbh in Allahabad.

Throughout Monday, the shrill pitch of anti-minority rhetoric marked the BJP campaign.

“This is our last chance. If the BJP doesn’t come to power this time, the Islamisation of Bengal is inevitable,” said Kamal Singh, a co-convener of the BJP’s trade cell in Bengal, who participated in the afternoon march.

Singh, a resident of Jorasanko, said he had been stationed in Bhabanipur for over a week. He is a member of a “core team” entrusted with one responsibility — ensuring Suvendu’s victory from the seat.

“Trinamool depends on false votes to win. This time, the SIR has ensured the deletion of bogus voters. This time, she (Mamata) is going to lose,” Singh said.

The march was boisterous, marked by non-stop cries of “Jai Shri Ram” and peppered intermittently with Hindutva pop. A group of dancers performed to the tunes of devotional Bengali songs. Drummers, men on stilts and folk artistes walked along.

When the head of the procession was near Calcutta Club, its tail was near Jadubabur Bazar, about 1km away.

Many of the marchers, and even passersby, tried to approach Suvendu to shake hands or take a picture with him in the backdrop. The security guards who formed a ring around the BJP candidate tried to keep them at bay. Every now and then, though, Suvendu called an admirer closer and exchanged pleasantries.

People gathered on both sides of the street to watch the show. The marchers kept flashing their index fingersat them.

A group stood outside a mall in SP Mukherjee Road watching the rally. They waved back at the marchers and let out a loud “Jai Shri Ram” cry.

Around 4.40pm, near the Exide intersection, scores of people waved at Suvendu from the foot overbridge across SP Mukherjee Road.

The presence of men in saffron robes in the rally caught the eye.

“I have vowed to sacrifice two goats at the Kalighat temple if the BJP wins Bengal,” said one of the marchers, Bimalananda Puri, who lives in an ashram in Dhulagarh, Howrah.

Asked if it was right for a “sadhu” to support a political party, Puri was defiant.

“Why not? I am a voter in Bhabanipur and will cast my vote, no matter what. Spiritualism and nationalism are not mutually exclusive,”he said.

“I’m not against Muslims. But Muslim youths are being misguided by the Opposition parties in India. Trinamool is the main culprit.”

A 39-year-old railway employee, watching the march from near Bhowanipore police station, said he had been a Trinamool agent even during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but would vote for the BJPthis time.

He was one among just a handful to say that the alleged corruption under Trinamool rule was the main issue for them. Most others spoke of “the threat to Hindus”.

“There was a Modi wave in 2021. But now, there is a true wave of Hindutva,” said Shashank Singh, one of the marchers.

“The BJP is winning Bengal comfortably. Suvendu will win, too, even if by just500 votes.”