TMC, BJP war of words, Durga Puja festival not spared

Kolkata: With the assembly elections in West Bengal just a few months away, the ruling Trinamool Congress and its principal challenger, Bharatiya Janata Party, have not even spared the Durga Puja festival as they stepped up the war of words against each other.

The TMC supremo and the state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, inaugurated several Durga Puja pandals on Saturday and Sunday.

As the ‘Mahalaya’ ushered in the festive fortnight on Sunday, she released a song, penned by herself and sung by the state’s minister, Indranil Sen, himself an eminent singer and film producer.

The song celebrates the farmers of West Bengal with a prayer to Goddess Durga for a good harvest.

She did not miss the opportunity to send political messages, too. Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the reforms in Goods and Services Tax, she accused the BJP-led government of taking undue credit for lowering the taxes.

“We are losing Rs 20,000 crore as revenue, but we are happy about the lowering of GST. But why are you claiming credit for it? We had sought a lowered GST. It was our suggestion at the GST Council meeting,” she said, tacitly taking a dig at the prime minister.

“We had sought a lowered GST. It was our suggestion at the GST Council meeting,” added the chief minister after drawing the third eye of the idol of the goddess at the pandal of Chetla Agrani, one of the most prominent Durga Puja committees of Kolkata.

The chief minister also blamed the governments of the states ruled by the BJP for the harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants from West Bengal. “If I speak in Bengali, that is illegal, and if I speak in another language, that is legal. How can you say so? Why should migrants be thrown out, being labelled as Bangladeshis?” she said.

The TMC supremo, however, drew flak from the state BJP heavyweight and the Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, for inaugurating some Durga Puja pandals on Saturday, even before the Mahalaya and the end of Pitru Paksha, when, according to him, any new beginning should be avoided.

“She brazenly inaugurates Durga Puja pandals right before Mahalaya. This is not ignorance; this is calculated malice,” said Adhikari, accusing Mamata of “deliberately sabotaging” the rituals of the Hindus.

He also tacitly slammed the TMC government for the lack of employment opportunities in West Bengal, highlighting on X the plight of migrant workers, who had to leave the state in search of livelihood and would not be able to return to spend the festive period with their families. He prayed to Goddess Durga to help change the situation in West Bengal so that adequate employment opportunities could be created in the state itself.

Mamata raised the government aid for each of about 40000 Durga Puja organisers in the state from Rs 85000 in 2024 to Rs 1.10 lakh this year. Sukumar Dey, a TMC MLA, recently said that if the organisers had accepted the government aid, they should put up pictures of the chief minister and the development works by the state government in the Durga Puja pandals. “The government is just spending public money to provide aid to the Durga Puja organisers, not donating money from anyone’s personal coffer,” Adhikari said, slamming Dey.