The city is dotted with banners and posters urging people to join Ram Navami processions on Sunday.

In Ballygunge, along EM Bypass, near Tollygunge Phari, at Puddapukur or in Salt Lake — the splash of saffron is unmistakable.

The men working behind the scenes to put up the posters and organise the processions identified themselves as RSS volunteers and workers of the BJP.

A party leader said it was “only natural that BJP workers will be working to make Ram Navami a grand success” as Ram had “his place in our hearts”.

There are door-to-door campaigns, too. The message is not restricted to religion but it is political.

“We are telling people that the existence of Hindus is under threat. More people should come to the processions and rally around each other. The way this state government is working, it will make Hindus more vulnerable,” said Subir Roy Chowdhury, a Swayamsevak (volunteer) entrusted with the responsibility of putting up banners in south Calcutta.

A rally from Hanuman Temple near The Tollygunge Club to an under-construction temple near Bhavani cinema is what Roy Chowdhury is campaigning for.

Debashish Dutta, an active BJP worker who contested the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in 2021 from Ward 54 on a BJP ticket, is working in central Calcutta for a Ram Navami procession there.

“The preparations for Ram Navami help us in two ways. It creates a bond among Hindus and unites them. It is a religious festival for all Hindus. On a political front, it helps people like me know our sympathisers,” said Dutta.

Dutta said he was part of a team putting up posters along the route of a procession that will start near Sealdah station, wind its way through the Beleghata, Chowringhee and Entally Assembly constituencies and end at Tangra Baishali.

Printing the posters or the handbills was not merely the decision of some local people, but part of a well laid out plan.

“The RSS leaders in the state passed instructions down the line that finally reached us. There was an online meeting on Tuesday evening, too, on things to do,” said a man who identified himself as a Swayamsevak.

About 5,000 posters and more than 5,000 handbills will be printed for south Calcutta alone.

DJs are a strict “no-no” in the processions. “There will be kirtans. The processions have to be in Sanatani-style,” said one of the organisers.

Ram Navami processions have sparked violence in the past. Several shops and vehicles were set ablaze in Howrah’s Kazipara in 2023 when two groups clashed.

In many places, people have been spotted carrying swords and lathis in the processions in the past.

Police have announced that no one will be allowed to carry arms in any Ram Navami procession.

The BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Samik Bhattacharya, said more people would be on the streets for Ram Navami processions this year.

“People will join the processions spontaneously. We are sure there will be more people in the processions this year than before,” he said.

His party colleague and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has claimed that 1 crore Hindus will take to the streets on Ram Navami.

The Trinamool Congress is advising leaders not to fall for provocation. Any competition to bring out rallies will only heighten communal tension, said a Trinamool leader, requesting not to be named.

“People will see for themselves the threatening behaviour of the BJP workers in the processions. Ram is dear to all of us but there is no need to be so belligerent,” said Bappaditya Dasgupta, Trinamool’s chief whip in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.