Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including its national president and Union home minister Amit Shah, are scheduled to inaugurate about 500 community Durga pujas across West Bengal, where over the past few years Trinamool Congress leaders have dominated the list of puja inaugurators.
Confirming that Shah will inaugurate a Durga puja, Tushar Kanti Ghosh, BJP’s in-charge of club relations, said on Friday, “Shah will inaugurate a puja on October 1. We will announce the name of the puja committee on September 28 or 29.” Durga Puja, Bengal’s biggest annual festival, has seen very little association with BJP leaders.
This year, the central leadership had asked the state unit to focus on increasing engagement with community puja committees to improve public relations.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife over which puja Shah is going to inaugurate. Most of the major pujas in the city denied that Shah was coming to inaugurate their event.