Politics over Durga Puja picks up in West Bengal

With Mahalaya being observed on Sunday (September 21, 2025), Durga Puja started across West Bengal and along with the festival, politics also picked up. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings to the people on the occasion of Mahalaya in Bengali and expressed hope that “May Mother Durga’s blessings bring steadfast strength, boundless joy, and good health to all our lives”.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had started inaugurating Durga Puja from Saturday (September 20), on Sunday launched the Jaago Bangla Utsav Edition and music album, “Durga Angon”, featuring songs written and composed by her. Jaago Bangla is the mouthpiece of the Trinamool Congress and the party chairperson takes interest in the festive edition of the publication.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who, along with her aunt, emphasised that the West Bengal government has extended a grant of ₹1.10 lakh to every Durga Puja committee in the State.

Mr. Banerjee took a swipe at his political opponents and said only a few years ago a section of people had ridiculed West Bengal saying Durga Pujas were not held in the State. He said inclusion of Durga Puja of Kolkata in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage had come as a proud moment to all the people in the State.

The Chief Minister touched the issue of harassment of Bengali migrants, while inaugurating one of the Durga Pujas in the city. “I do not agree with the idea that if you speak Bengali, you have to be tortured. Many of my workers here work outside. They work based on their talent. About 22 lakh workers from this State work in other States. However, 1.5 crore people come here from outside and work,” Ms. Banerjee said.

The targeting of migrant workers has dominated the politics of the State in the past few months and the Trinamool Congress chairperson is using the Durga Puja outreach to impress on the point

On Sunday, after Mr. Modi’s address to the nation, where he highlighted GST rate cuts, Ms. Banerjee said she was the first to write to the Prime Minister on reducing the GST rates on health and life insurance. “The fact that they removed GST from insurance, I was the first one to write a letter to the Centre to remove this tax. The ones who are giving speeches on GST have no credit in this, the credit is the State’s,” Ms. Banerjee said.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari criticised the West Bengal Chief Minister for inaugurating Durga Pujas before Mahalaya and called it deliberate “sabotaging our age-old Hindu rituals and sentiments just to pander to her narrow vote-bank politics”.

“This is not ignorance; this is calculated malice. ‘Pitru paksha’ is a time of solemn remembrance, shraddha, and restraint. Our scriptures and traditions are crystal clear: no new beginnings, no festivities during this phase, as it invites inauspiciousness. Mahalaya marks the invocation of Maa Durga, the true herald of Shuva Sharadiya,” he added.

The Chief Minister, who has set an ambitious target of inaugurating 3,000 Durga Pujas this festive season, however, explained that she was inaugurating the Durga Puja pandal, and not opening up the idol of the Goddess “I have come to inaugurate the puja mandap. Not of the mother idol. I will inaugurate the mother idol from the day of Mahalaya,” she has repeated at several inaugurations.

On the day, the Chief Minister was inaugurating Durga Pujas in the city, Mr. Adhikari participated in an event at Nandigram in honour of martyrs of the fight against forcible land acquisition during the Left Front government . The BJP leader said the Chief Minister had refused to return to Nandigram after facing defeat in 2021 Assembly polls.

Several BJP leaders also performed tarpan, a ritual during Mahalaya in honour of BJP workers killed in political violence. Since the Durga Puja this season comes months ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal scheduled for 2026, the BJP leadership has invited senior leaders from Delhi, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to inaugurate an Operation Sindoor-themed Durga Puja in the city.