Mamata Tells TMC Leaders Not to Politicise Durga Pujas After Prashant Kishor’s Advice

On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders associated with Durga Puja committees not to display banners or posters of any political party, including her own, in pandals across the state.

The message to party leaders

According to party insiders, the idea came from political strategist Prashant Kishor, who felt the party’s work, rather than individual leaders including Banerjee herself, should be put before the public at puja pandals. Banerjee conveyed the instruction at a meeting with senior leaders and Kishor at her Kalighat home on Monday.

She also asked leaders to set up Jago Bangla stalls, named after the TMC’s mouthpiece, at the pandals. A senior TMC leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aim was to take politics out of the festival and tell people about government schemes for the poor, adding that Banerjee had told them the party was bigger than any individual.

According to the leader, she said the festival belonged to everyone, that no distinction should be drawn between VIPs and others, and that the best arrangements should be made for ordinary people. Party sources said she wanted leaders to keep a low profile so that no puja would look like Bobby’s Puja (Firhad Hakim), Aroop’s Puja or Sujit’s Puja.

Background

At a recent meeting with puja organisers at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Banerjee had asked VIPs not to visit pandals in cars fitted with blue beacons after 5 PM, to avoid inconvenience to the public, and urged committees not to issue VIP passes this year.

Durga Puja is held in more than 25,000 pandals in the state, 2000 of them in Kolkata. Several TMC figures, among them Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, sports minister Aroop Biswas, MLA Sujit Bose and Panchayats and Rural Development minister Subrata Mukherjee, are closely linked to some of the city’s biggest celebrations.

See also: Political leaders | Election news

Originally published on 3 September 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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