Sainthia/Kolkata (WB), Sep 23 A BJP leader’s remark asking Durga Puja organisers at Sainthia in West Bengal’s Birbhum district to display Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s photograph at pandals if they accept the state government’s grant has triggered a controversy, with the party’s top leadership saying there is no such directive.
BJP’s Birbhum district president Uday Shankar Bandopadhyay on Wednesday clarified that his comments were aimed at Trinamool Congress workers who had allegedly heckled Adhikari during his visits to Sainthia when he was the Leader of Opposition and were now trying to project themselves as well-wishers.
During a meeting with Durga Puja organisers here on Tuesday, Bandopadhyay had said displaying the chief minister’s photograph at puja pandals was mandatory for those accepting the government grant and warned of “strict action” for non-compliance.
As the remarks triggered a controversy, Bandopadhyay said that he was referring only to those who were now claiming to be “good” TMC leaders and workers despite having earlier heckled Adhikari during his visits to the town.
“It was aimed at such elements only in Sainthia and not anywhere else in the district,” he said in a video message.
Criticising the BJP leader’s remarks, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said no such directive had been issued during the previous government.
“This is the difference between the current dispensation and the previous Mamata Banerjee government,” he told PTI.
Stating that government grants to community Durga Puja organisers were started by the Banerjee government, Ghosh said she had never asked anyone to display her photograph in any pandal.
Former state BJP presidents Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar sought to distance the party from Bandopadhyay’s comments, saying the saffron party government would not mandate any such displaying of the chief minister’s photograph, maintaining that such acts were associated with the previous TMC government.
“Previously, this was a condition; funds would be withheld if Mamata Banerjee’s picture wasn’t displayed, and leaders would even take ‘cut money’ from those funds,” Ghosh claimed.
“Our government has issued no directive requiring the chief minister’s picture to be put up. You are worshipping Goddess Durga – do it properly,” Ghosh told reporters.
Majumdar, a Union minister of state and former state BJP president, echoed Ghosh’s comments.
“I don’t know what he exactly told, but the government has issued no directive regarding the display of the CM’s picture in pandals. The question of such a thing does not even arise,” he said.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya in July advised party leaders against attempting to forcibly take over community puja committees, maintaining that festivals should remain separate from politics.
(PTI News)
