Hollow Piety

West Bengal’s chief minister has turned Durga Puja into a theatre of appeasement, where faith is subordinated to the survival instincts of her party.

West Bengal

The clang of the dhak and the reverent throngs around Kolkata’s puja pandals are usually a reminder of Bengal’s most cherished festival, the Durga Puja. But it seems that under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, even the state’s most sacred spaces are not immune to the corrosive logic of her politics.

Last week, Banerjee inaugurated several pandals across Kolkata in what should have been a conventional gesture embracing Bengal’s cultural grandeur at the start of West Bengal’s most festive season. Instead, the controversial CM turned it into a brazen theatre of appeasement. At the BhowaniporeShitala Mandir pandal, Madan Mitra, a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, broke into a song that was not any hymn to Goddess Durga, but an Islamic nasheed praising Mecca and Medina. Banerjee, far from objecting, clapped along approvingly.

Mitra later sought to soften the act by tacking on references to the Ganga and Yamuna. But the intended damage was done. The incident was no ‘innocent’ slip but a calculated gesture that fits seamlessly into Banerjee’s long record of pandering to minority sentiment at the cost of majority traditions.

The opposition was quick to pounce. The BJP’s Amit Malviya accused Banerjee of trampling on Sanatani beliefs, citing this as proof that the TMC had crossed the “limit of appeasement politics.” The charge is not unfounded. This is the same government that withdrew funding from a Durga pandal themed on Operation Sindoor, deeming it politically inconvenient.

Such decisions reveal a state policy where even cultural expression is vetted for conformity with the ruling party’s electoral calculus.

Banerjee’s defenders insist this is much ado about nothing. They argue that the CM, a Brahmin who has led countless Puja inaugurations, is being unfairly maligned. They dismiss the controversy over her covering her head during the ceremonies as a gesture to shield herself from the rain.

Yet these defences ring hollow. For years, Banerjee has cultivated an image of syncretism, but in practice she has deployed symbolism as a political weapon, calibrated less to unify than to fragment.

Ever since the TMC supplanted Bengal’s Communist regime, Mamata’s tenure has been punctuated by a series of controversies that underscore her penchant for political theatrics over principled governance. In 2011, shortly after assuming office, her government faced accusations of excessive centralisation of power, with key decisions bypassing cabinet processes and bureaucratic protocols. She has repeatedly clashed with the judiciary and media, including the 2014 incident when journalists covering her administration’s handling of the Saradha chit-fund scam were intimidated. Her handling of law and order, notably in the Nandigram and Singur land acquisition disputes, exposed heavy-handed crackdowns on protesters.

In a state where Muslim voters account for over a quarter of the electorate, Banerjee has made appeasement the organising principle of governance. Every symbolic gesture is weighed against its impact on the ballot box.

The irony is that instead of enhancing Bengal’s communal harmony, it has deepened polarisation. The BJP, once a marginal force in the state, has built a formidable base by exploiting precisely this vacuum of credibility. Each TMC misstep strengthens the perception that the ruling party does not merely mismanage the state but actively undermines its cultural fabric.

This instrumentalization of Durga Puja is especially corrosive because the festival is not just a religious occasion but a cultural cornerstone of Bengal’s identity. To reduce it to a stage for clumsy electoral manoeuvres is to hollow out its meaning.

For all her populist instincts, the state’s economic stagnation, corruption scandals and major law-and-order crises have eroded the TMC’s standing. Instead of course correction, Mamata has doubled down on the politics of symbolism. It may yield short-term gains, but it leaves Bengal’s social fabric frayed and its traditions politicised beyond recognition.

Durga Puja has survived centuries of upheaval, from colonial neglect to communist austerity. It will endure Mamata Banerjee too.