Bengal BJP plans to use Durga Puja to take on TMC

Seeking to counter West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s charge of being “anti-Bengali”, the BJP has decided to increase its influence in Durga Puja, the state’s biggest annual festival. State BJP sources revealed that they have got in touch with more than dozen big ticket Durga Puja committees in Kolkata.

“After our political success in Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections we want to reach out to cultural sphere of the state and there is nothing more significant that Durga Puja,” a senior State BJP leader said. He added that senior party leaders including Union ministers will actively participate in organising and inaugurating Durga Pujas.

The BJP leadership is also keen on an image makeover by projecting itself as a party of Bengalis. This is aimed to shelve the general notion in Bengal that BJP is a party of non-Bengali Hindi-speaking people. The sources in the BJP revealed that they were trying to include party leaders into major Durga Puja committees in the city.

“As a party we believe in Durga Pujas and definitely get more involved in the festival. I myself will inaugurate several Durga Pujas,” said BJP state president and MP Dilip Ghosh.

Durga Puja has always been the biggest cultural medium of political parties in the state to reach out to people. TMC has made major gains in public outreach by organising Durga Pujas, thus cashing in on CPM’s lack of involvement with religious festivals like Durga Puja due to ideological constraint.

Senior TMC leaders such as Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Rural Development Minister Surbrata Mukherjee, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee are all directly involved with big ticket Durga Pujas in Kolkata.

The significance of Durga Puja to political leaders can be gauged from the fact that the TMC supremo herself inaugurates hundreds of Durga Pujas every year. According to sources in the state administration, about 28,000 community Durga Pujas are held in Bengal out of which about 200 Durga Pujas held in Kolkata have massive budget running into crores.

Interestingly in January this year, the Income Tax Department issued notices to 40 big budget Durga Puja committees in the state. Mamata minced no words in attacking the ruling party at the Centre over this.