January 23, 2026 Times of Dakshin Dinajpur
Political Storm Over Saraswati Puja Cartoon
Kamal Kumar Biswas Senior Correspondent
A local Saraswati Puja celebration in South Dinajpur has become the latest flashpoint in West Bengal’s polarized politics, after a cartoon displayed at a puja pandal set off a sharp exchange between rival student wings of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress.
The controversy centers on a cartoon used by a Rashtrabadi (nationalist) student organization at a puja mandap in Patiram. The image, critics allege, depicts Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the phrase “file thief,” a reference that supporters of the Trinamool Congress say amounts to a personal insult to the state’s leader.
Dr.Sukanta Majumdar, the Balurghat Member of Parliament and a Union minister of state, visited the pandal on the day the dispute escalated. He said the puja organizers had used several images as part of the theme and argued that the cartoon in question did not explicitly name anyone. Dr.Sukanta Majumdar further alleged that the Patiram police had repeatedly pressured the organizers to remove the image, warning them of consequences if they failed to do so.
“This is an attempt to intimidate puja organizers,” Dr.Sukanta Majumdar said, adding that the images reflected what he described as factual issues and were being politicized unnecessarily.
Leaders of the Trinamool Congress strongly disagreed. Amarnath Ghosh, the state secretary of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, accused rival organizations of deliberately trying to demean the chief minister under the guise of cultural celebration.
“Creating a cartoon of the chief minister inside a puja mandap reflects a low and distasteful mindset,” Mr.Amarnath Ghosh said, condemning the act as offensive and inappropriate.
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