Kolkata, Oct 23 Kolkata Police has no role in deciding who can participate in the immersion of Durga idols, police commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand said here on Friday, adding that the responsibility rests with the respective puja committees.
Nand, however, said the committees had been asked to follow the instructions issued by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari regarding who could touch the idols during immersion.
“Police have no role here. Police look after law and order. The puja committees decide among themselves who will come for the immersion,” Nand told reporters at a press conference.
Asked how the authorities would identify those who follow the Sanatan faith, Nand said it was not police’s responsibility to determine that.
“I cannot say how that will be decided. We have told the committees to conduct the puja in accordance with the prescribed rules. That is how it is being done,” he said.
Nand said the immersion arrangements had traditionally been managed by puja committees, which coordinate with workers at the ghats to facilitate the movement of the idols.
“The puja committees are looking after everything. They have been told to follow the CM’s instructions,” he said.
On Wednesday, Adhikari, while inspecting immersion preparations at Babu Ghat here, said only those who believe in the “sanatan dharma” should touch the idols and that the names of those attending the immersion should be recorded and their identities established.
The chief minister maintained that the directive was not motivated by communal considerations but was intended to preserve religious rituals and sanctity.
“I have instructed the CP to keep the identification of those who will be involved in carrying the idols into the Hooghly. Those who follow Sanatan Dharma will touch the idols. There is no communal matter in it,” Adhikari had said.
He had said traditions, customs, scriptures and rules followed over thousands of years should be respected to maintain the sanctity of the religious observance.
(PTI News)
