January 24, 2026 Times of Dakshin Dinajpur
KAMAL KUMAR BISWAS.TOD.PATIRAM
What began as a celebration of Saraswati Puja, a festival traditionally associated with learning, culture and restraint, spiraled into a charged political confrontation in the town of Patiram, exposing once again the fragile boundary between religious observance and partisan politics in Bengal.
Tensions erupted on Friday following allegations that political caricatures and posters were displayed inside a Saraswati Puja pandal at Patiram Chowrangee. The puja was organized for the first time by a group calling itself Rashtrabadi Chhatra Jubo Samaj. Leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed the organization operated with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a charge the BJP has not formally responded to.
According to local TMC leaders, the pandal featured cartoons resembling senior Trinamool leadership and posters referencing alleged corruption scandals, prompting outrage among residents and party workers. A written complaint was subsequently filed at the Patiram police station by a leader of the Trinamool Congress college unit, alleging deliberate provocation and misuse of a religious platform for political messaging.
On Saturday evening, the controversy culminated in a protest march and public meeting organized by the Trinamool Congress. The procession wound through key streets of Patiram before converging at Chowrangee, where party leaders accused their political rivals of weaponizing religious and cultural events to foment discord.
Addressing the gathering, Partha Ghosh, the Pradhan of the Patiram Panchayat, launched a blistering attack on the BJP, accusing its local leadership of manufacturing unrest and importing “divisive politics” into a space meant for reverence and harmony. His remarks included personal allegations against a BJP leader, claims that party representatives later described as politically motivated.
Other speakers, including Snehalata Hemrom, Amarnath Ghosh, Deepa Das Mondal and Sahensha Mollah, echoed a unified message: religious festivals, they said, must remain insulated from political agendas. “Saraswati Puja is sacred,” several speakers asserted, “and any attempt to inject political provocation into such observances is an assault on Bengal’s cultural ethos.”
The incident underscores a broader pattern in West Bengal, where religious festivals increasingly double as arenas for political contestation. As Patiram returns to a tense calm, the episode has reignited debate over the limits of political expression and the responsibility of parties to preserve communal harmony in spaces traditionally reserved for devotion.
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