The Mamata Banerjee government has undertaken a cluster of religious initiatives to promote and brand Bengal’s famous Gangasagar Mela after a thorough study on how the event could be promoted among an even larger number of people outside the state, especially in north India.

Officials said they studied the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad and a few other events associated with Hinduism observed during the Makar Sankranti elsewhere in the country to take ideas for the initiatives for devotees to participate in, in person or virtually. They said the aim was to brand the mega Hindu festival in the state’s southern coast as a peer of the Kumbh event.

Sources in the ruling dispensation said the chief minister’s visit — a regular affair ahead of the Mela — and the preparations by her government for the event were part of a larger message to those outside Bengal, especially in the northern states, as her party prepares to expand its footprint beyond Bengal in the run-up to the general election of 2024.

“The larger message is to the non-Bengal electorate, of how she isn’t anti-Hindu, which the saffron ecosystem has been trying to brand her as,” said a source.

A meditation centre under construction at Sagar Hedaytulla Purkait

“That branding has not harmed her electorally or politically in Bengal, with one-third of the population being from minority communities and those in the majority community here thinking very differently from their north or west Indian counterparts. But it is one she must work against, for the Trinamul Congress’s foray outside Bengal,” he added. “The Gangasagar exercise, now more than ever, is part of that pandering exercise for non-Bengal Hindus. Tens of thousands of them visit the event every year.”

The Trinamul chief reached Gangasagar on Tuesday afternoon for her three-day programme, including an administrative review meeting to take stock of the preparations for the fair, which begins on January 7 next year.

Visiting the Kapil Muni Ashram — a foremost attraction for pilgrims on the site — where she offered her prayers, Mamata reiterated that she had sent several letters to the Centre, urging it to help make the Gangasagar event a national affair, like the one in Kumbh so that the event got all sorts of central assistance.

“I have written several letters to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) with the demand to announce the Gangasagar Mela as a national fair, but did not receive any reply. Gangasagar Mela is a national event, quite like the Kumbh Mela. The central government bears all the cost of the Kumbh Mela, but it does not pay a dime for our Gangasagar event,” she said.

“If Kumbh Mela is shuorani (favourite queen), is Gangasagar Mela the duorani (neglected queen)?”

Among several initiatives is the setting up of a Dhyan Kendra — a meditation centre — that can house thousands of pilgrims, who can meditate there, besides have an “enriching experience” of myths and religious stories connected to the Gangasagar event, to be shared by Hindu monks, ascetics and experts.

There would be other special events, such as the Sagar Sangam, a talk show where the pilgrims would be able to watch interviews and interactions with Hindu monks and ascetics — deemed eminent by believers — visiting Gangasagar from around the country.

Punya Toree (boat of virtue) is another initiative where boats would carry water from Gangasagar, considered sacred by devotees, to all 23 districts of Bengal.

“We conducted a comprehensive study to find out how we can make the fair an event of national or event international interest. We are going to make this fair with ancient roots and numerous associated myths a brand to promote it extensively,” said P. Ulaganathan, the South 24-Parganas district magistrate.

“We would also try to make it more popular than the Kumbh Mela in coming years,” he added.

The district administration has already started initiatives such as e-snan, e-puja and e-darshan — things associated with the fair that could now be done virtually in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have already received at least 20 lakh responses to such virtual puja or bathing. We expect at least 30 lakh people across the country to visit the fair this year,” added Ulaganathan.