West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday, 10 September suggested a rather unusual but not unsurprising — test for Leftist book stalls outside Durga Puja pandals: if they call the festival ‘Sharodotsav’ instead of ‘Durga Puja’, they should not be allowed to operate.
Speaking in the state Assembly, Adhikari accused sections of the Left of selectively targeting ‘Sanatan Dharma’ and the saffron colour, and urged Durga Puja committees to keep CPI(M)-associated book stalls away if they used the term ‘Sharodotsav’ — literally, autumn festival — to describe the celebrations.
“A section of professors, who are so-called Leftists, are attacking Sanatanis. They are selectively targeting the saffron colour. I would ask all Durga Puja committees that if the Communists write ‘Sharodotsav’ instead of ‘Durga Puja’ at the book stalls they set up, they should not be allowed to operate,” he said.
So, in an unusually specific addition to Bengal’s political battles, the chief minister’s objection was not to Communist literature being sold outside a Durga Puja pandal, but to what the stall might call the festival on its signboard.
CPI(M) and affiliated organisations have been setting up book stalls near Durga Puja pandals for decades, selling Marxist literature, party publications and other books while using the festival as an opportunity to reach out to people.
The first such CPI(M)-associated book stall was set up in Park Circus in 1954 on the initiative of veteran Communist leader Muzaffar Ahmed. The practice acquired particular significance because party workers and local leaders were generally discouraged from directly participating in religious events. The red-cloth book stalls became less common after the Left Front’s defeat in 2011, but continue to appear at select locations.
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