The BJP has decided to organise at least 25 Durga Pujas in Bengal districts and set a target for its leaders to be involved in over 1,000 existing Pujas across the state this year.

The BJP has eyed Bengal’s biggest festival as a platform to reach out to people in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and at the same time, breach the Trinamul Congress’s hegemony in organising Pujas.

“Under different banners, BJP leaders will hold Pujas in various districts. We have already earmarked 1,000-odd existing Durga Pujas where our leaders will play an active role in organising the inaugural programmes and cultural events. They will also use the Puja platform to make people aware of the success stories of the Narendra Modi government,” a senior BJP leader said.

Senior BJP leaders, including those from Delhi, will travel to the districts to inaugurate Durga Pujas after Mahalaya.

This is not the first time that the Bengal BJP has eyed Puja to augment its support base. In the run-up to the 2021 Assembly polls, the party had for the first time organised Durga Puja on the EZCC premises in Salt Lake in 2020. However, after the BJP lost the polls to Trinamul, the Pujas organised by the party remained low-key affairs.

As the Lok Sabha polls are nearing and Union home minister Amit Shah in April set a 35-seat target for the BJP in Bengal, leaders of the saffron camp here do not want to be left out of Durga Puja celebrations.

The BJP’s bid for heightened involvement in this year’s Durga Puja is also attributed to its desperation to counter Trinamul’s narrative that the BJP is a party of outsiders with no connection with Bengal’s culture and festivals.

“While Trinamul leaders keep in touch with the masses using the Durga Puja platform, our leaders are busy holidaying. That creates a disconnect and this year, we cannot afford it as the Lok Sabha polls are due,” said a state BJP functionary.

However, the BJP’s mission to connect with the Puja is not a cakewalk for the party at a time when Trinamul wields a complete hegemony over the festival, especially after 2018 when the Mamata Banerjee government started giving donations to 40,000-odd Puja committees.

The government disbursed Rs 10,000 to each Puja committee in 2018 and the amount increased to Rs 70,000 this year. All the Puja committees that get government donations spread the message about state-run flagship schemes. Local Trinamul leaders are connected with each of these Durga Puja committees.

“In many places, we failed to find a Durga Puja committee where we can get involved. Local organisers were not ready to include us as they received state government donations. It was then that we tried to get involved with Pujas that do not get the support of the government,” said a BJP leader in East Burdwan’s Raina where the party had organised a Puja.

A senior BJP leader said the party’s primary target was to get local leaders involved in existing Durga Pujas in their areas. However, the leaders in the districts, where the party did not get access to local Pujas, are organising their own Pujas.

“The number of new Pujas that the party is organising this year will not be more than 25 across the state. In many cases, leaders have been organising their own pujas,” said a leader.

One such new Puja will be organised in Birbhum’s Suri. “We are organising the Puja under the banner of Dr Shyama Prasad Smarak Puja Committee near our district party office. We are organising it even though our leaders are already connected with 30 more Pujas,” said Birbhum BJP chief Dhruba Saha.