Trinamul Congress’s Bhatar MLA Mangobinda Adhikari on Sunday evening urged Durga Puja committees to display photographs of Mamata Banerjee at their pandals or forget the state’s festival grant of ₹85,000.
“The chief minister is providing the money (Puja grants), so it should be ensured that her photographs are displayed in each pandal. She may belong to a political party, but the chief minister is the head of the government,” said Adhikari while addressing Puja organisers during a cheque distribution event in his constituency in East Burdwan.
“I found that many accepted the money but did not put up her photographs. This is very bad (practice). If you don’t want to display the chief minister’s picture, you should not accept the grants, like many who have already refused to take them,” added Adhikari.
Although the MLA claimed that he “requested” the organisers to do so, many puja committees and Opposition parties considered his instructions a veiled threat, especially as some organisers had declined the government funds in protest against the RG Kar rape and murder incident.
Although he addressed the Puja committees in his constituency, his statement drew criticism from many organisers outside the district.
A Puja organiser in Hooghly said that while there were no official instructions to display the chief minister’s photograph, her images were featured on all flexes and posters at the puja pandals as part of the campaign of different government schemes or initiatives.
“This is not the first time the state government is providing such grants. No one had earlier made such veiled threats in previous years,” said the organiser.
A few days ago, Narayan Goswami, the TMC MLA from North 24 Parganas’s Ashoknagar, urged puja organisers in his district to celebrate the festival with added grandeur this year, which also resulted in controversy, especially as a large number of people have decided to keep the festivities low-key in light of the brutality at the government medical college.
“The TMC MLA in Bhatar is publicly threatening Puja organisers from the dais of a government programme. If they accept the government grant, they will have to display a picture of the chief minister in Puja pandals, otherwise, they will have to return the money,” Majumdar wrote on X, also sharing the speech of the TMC MLA CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty, however, said the TMC MLA had exposed the real reason behind the government grants to Puja organisers.
“The state government started giving these grants to use the festival premises to promote Mamata Banerjee. Now, the TMC MLAhas said it publicly,” Chakraborty said. When asked why he gave such instructions, the TMC MLA responded that there was nothing wrong with his request.“Pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are featured on the bags of rations provided by the central government. So, there is nothing wrong with requesting that the chief minister’s photographs be displayed at Puja pandals,” said Adhikari.
On whether he believed his speech was merely a request, the MLA replied: “Let anyone interpret it whatever way they want.”