Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate BJP’s Durga Puja at Salt Lake near here on October 22 — the first puja to be hosted by any political party in Bengal.
The venue of the puja will be the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre’s building in Salt Lake. The EZCC is under the Union ministry of culture.
Modi will inaugurate the puja during his virtual address to the people of Bengal on October 22. “This will be the first of its kind experience and we are very excited about it,” BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, who is in-charge of the event, along with BJP state vice-president Pratap Banerjee, told The Telegraph on Tuesday.
According to multiple sources this correspondent spoke to, the BJP sees the Durga Puja as an opportunity to connect with the electorate in the poll-bound state and decided to organise the event.
“We have been celebrating Ram Navami, which is essentially a north Indian festival, but Durga Puja gives us an opportunity to establish a Bengal connect right before the polls,” a leader said.
Durga Puja, apparently an apolitical annual event that brings the people of Bengal together, has for long been controlled by political personalities. Since the Trinamul Congress came to power in 2011, most of the major pujas in Calcutta have been organised under the patronage of ruling party leaders with chief minister Mamata Banerjee hogging the limelight by inaugurating several pujas every year.
However, this is the first time that a political party has taken upon itself to organise a puja.
The BJP has been trying to make inroads into Durga Puja committees since it bagged 18 of the 42 parliamentary seats in 2019. However, apart from Union home minister Amit Shah inaugurating one puja at Salt Lake last year, the BJP couldn’t make its presence felt at pujas.
“If you remember, the involvement of two of our leaders Sayantan Basu and Tushar Kanti Ghosh with a Durga Puja committee led to a major controversy last year. That is why we have decided to organise our own puja this time,” said Jayprakash Majumdar, a BJP state vice-president.
The suddenness of the decision has taken several BJP workers by surprise. Several leaders at 6, Muralidhar Sen Lane in Calcutta, the BJP’s state headquarters, are worried about maintaining social distance protocols at the puja.
“Did we really need another reason for people to flout Covid protocol?” a senior leader asked.
This person reminded that state president Dilip Ghosh had a few days back said festivities for this year should have been scaled down. “I wonder what Dilipda will say now,” the leader added.
Majumdar, however, said social distance norms would be maintained at the EZCC. “The event will be our party’s private affair, but everyone is welcome to visit the puja,” he said.