Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday to mark freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary. Soon after his arrival, he was seen at the Victoria Memorial with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The prime minister also paid tributes to the freedom fighter at the Netaji Bhavan in the city. He is scheduled to inaugurate a permanent museum dedicated to Bose.

Modi’s visit assumes significance ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, which will be held in April-May. It will be a closely-watched contest between Bharatiya Janata Party and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

Earlier in the day, Banerjee held a huge rally in Kolkata to mark Bose’s birth anniversary. In an apparent dig at the BJP, she said that her party did not celebrate the occasion only in elections years.

Banerjee asked the BJP why it didn’t observe Bose’s birth anniversary ever before or build a memorial for him. “We will build an Azad Hind Monument,” Banerjee said. “We will show how it will be done. They’ve spent thousands of crores in building statues and a new parliament complex.” She also criticised the Centre for not declaring Bose’s birth anniversary as a national holiday.

Banerjee is also miffed with the Centre over its decision to call Bose’s birth anniversary “Parakram Diwas” instead of “Deshnayak Diwas”. The West Bengal chief minister said that she was not consulted about the name, according to PTI. She also criticised the Centre for not declaring Bose’s birth anniversary as a national holiday.