Mamata Banerjee will on Sunday virtually inaugurate the Pous Mela, the signature event at Santiniketan that is being held after a three-year gap amid the unusual circumstance of the state government taking the lead in organising it.

This will be the first time that the head of the state government will open the fair, started in 1894 by Maharshi Debendranath, father of Rabindranath Tagore.

"As the administrative head of the state, our chief minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the fair virtually. She will also address the gathering," Birbhum district magistrate Bidhan Ray said.

Trinamul insiders said the state government's proactive role in organising the fair would bring political dividends for the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mamata has made her administration the main promoter of major fairs and festivals across Bengal since coming to power in 2011.

As last-minute preparations continued on Saturday for the five-day event, to be held on the varsity fairground, the mood was upbeat among the traders, the larger university community in Santiniketan, and Bolpur residents. Most of them had harboured doubts about the fair being held this winter.

Over the decades, the Pous Mela has become a sought-after destination for lakhs of people across Bengal and other parts of the country during the Christmas season.

The last fair was organised in 2019 by the traditional organisers, the Santiniketan Trust and Visva-Bharati. In 2020 and 2021, the fair could not be held because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The year after, the varsity authorities decided not to hold it saying the infrastructure was inadequate for such a mammoth event.

“People have missed the Pous Mela.... All the stakeholders wanted it resumed this winter,” a senior Visva-Bharati official said.

“The chief minister must be thanked for the resumption of what is undoubtedly the most important event in the district (Birbhum), even the whole of Bengal.”

The state government had decided to take the lead after Visva-Bharati authorities and the Santiniketan Trust jointly announced their inability to organise the fair this winter. They cited several reasons, including a shortage of time.

“But unlike last year, when the state government’s offer to hold the fair was rebuffed by the varsity, the Visva-Bharati authorities cooperated with us in putting the show together.... We thank them for giving us the permission,” a source in the district administration said.

The go-ahead from the central university comes with conditions, such as adherence to all legal and environmental stipulations.

“Didi’s decision to involve the state government assumes significance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, as there is already disappointment at the central university, headed by its Chancellor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, failing to organise the century-old Pous Mela,” a Trinamul politician said.

“We can send a clear message to Tagore lovers that our government values the culture and traditions of Visva-Bharati and Rabindranath Tagore.”

Mamata has over the last couple of years been blaming the BJP for the alleged vitiation of Santiniketan’s culture and traditions during the five-year tenure of the previous vice-chancellor, Bidyut Chakrabarty. It was on Chakrabarty’s watch that the university stopped organising events like the Pous Mela and Basanta Utsav (spring festival of colours).

The chief minister had also alleged efforts to saffronise the campus during the last five years.

Against this background, the resumption of the Pous Mela will indeed help Trinamul, a BJP insider admitted. “There is little doubt that Trinamul will gain mileage from it,” he said.

Birbhum BJP president Dhruba Saha, however, claimed that Trinamul wouldn’t gain anything.

“We are not the least bothered about who will inaugurate the event. Trinamul has robbed the traders by increasing the rent, and the chief minister will try to make those wrongdoings of her partymen right,” Saha said.

Anil Konar, honorary secretary of the Santiniketan Trust, had a question.

“There is no tradition of the fair having a formal inauguration. The completion of prayers at Chhatimtala (a location on the campus) followed by a folk singers’ chorus at the fairground was how the event kicked off. We don’t know how the state government will inaugurate the fair this time,” he said.

District magistrate Ray said the government would follow all the traditions. “We planned the inauguration through discussions with seniors and university authorities. The chief minister will flag it off before the folk singers’ chorus.”