BJP’s Durga Puja outreach plan in Bengal flops

The BJP seems to have lost the battle over Durga Puja, the grandest festival of West Bengal to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) this year. While sources in the state administration revealed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has received 12,000 invitations from Durga Puja committees, BJP sources said that so far, not a single major Durga Puja pandal has confirmed their invitation to Home Minister Amit Shah.

According to sources in the state administration, out of the 12,000 invitations for the chief minister, nearly 4,000 are for inaugurating Durga Pujas.

A section of puja committees, realising that Mamata might not be able to oblige all inauguration requests, has requested that they get at least a letter of praise from her.

Mamata will be unveiling the face of 75 Durga idols this year, apart from inaugurating several other Durga Pujas.

On the other hand, the saffron party has been left red-faced as their Durga Puja outreach yielded almost no results.

“Earlier a number of these big-ticket puja committees told us that they have no issues with Amit Shah inaugurating their pujas. But now, for some reason, they are not giving us any confirmation,” a senior state BJP leader said.

He also said that lesser-known puja committees are not an option for the state BJP, as it would not be proper to take the Home Minister to inaugurate a little known Durga Puja.

“The central leadership has instructed us to select a plastic-free Durga Puja for inauguration by the Home Minister. This has made the situation more complicated for us,” said BJP leader said.