In a shocking incident of anti-national stand by the administration, a Durga Puja Committee in West Bengal has been forced to remove its pandal because it was themed on Operation Sindoor. The incident took place in Chakfuldubi in Sagar of the South 24 Parganas district.
It has become common for Durga Puja committees in the state to adopt contemporary themes to decorate their puja pandals. Accordingly, the 70-year-old Puja organised by Chakfuldubi Sarvajanin Durgotsav Committee decided to adopt the theme of Operation Sindoor this year. The pavilion of the pandal was also decorated with saffron coloured cloth.
Reportedly, this theme angered some people in the administration, and put pressure on the Puja committee to remove the same. As per some reports, Sagar MLA and Sundarbans Development Minister Bankim Chandra Hazra was behind the pressure. The MLA also alleged that the puja committee is linked to BJP.
As a result of the pressure from the local administration, the committee decided to removed the Operation Sindoor themed pandal. In protest, they also returned the grant given by the state government. Notably, this year the Mamata Banerjee government has given ₹1.10 lakh to each Puja committee.
An office bearer of the club said, “we adopted the theme of Operation Sindoor. We had to backtrack due to pressure from administration, we have stopped it. The pressure is for the theme, Sagar’s local administration said this theme will not be allowed. We will return the grant amount entirely.”
As per some reports, while the secretary of the puja committee is Trinamool Panchayat member Satyahari Bera, some members of the committee are from BJP. This led to a conflict over the choice of the theme, and ultimately they had to bow down to the TMC’s pressure through the local officials.
The Pandal was almost complete with some works remaining. But now the entire pandal is being pulled down. The committee has also decided that the puja will not be formally inaugurated this year. The Puja will be held in the temple there.
Sagar BJP leader Bikash Kamila said, “The 70-year-old puja will have to be done only with rituals. As per the minister’s instructions, the puja committee has cancelled the Operation Sindoor theme.” He said that the people of the area are very angry over the matter.
However, TMC leaders denied the pressure allegations, claiming that the theme was abandoned because it was expensive. But that does not explain why the pandal was almost complete if it was expensive. The committee will anyway have to make the payments for most of the materials and labour used.
On the other hand, a similar but much bigger Operation Sindoor themed Durga Puja Pandal has not faced any such hurdle. The pandal at Santosh Mitra Square in Kolkata was inaugurated by home minister Amit Shah today. The pandal is one of the biggest in the city, organised by BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh.
