Bengal: Cong. turns up heat as Suvendu orders arrest of Bageshwar protesters

The Congress on Thursday, 10 September, stepped up protests against religious preacher Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, otherwise known as Bageshwar Baba, with party workers demonstrating and filing complaints at police stations across West Bengal over his remarks on food and Durga Puja.

Congress workers took the issue to police stations in different parts of the state, including Asansol, Durgapur and Kolkata, demanding action against Shastri. In Asansol, protesters demonstrated against the preacher, while in Durgapur, Congress workers staged a demonstration and burned his photograph. Reports also said Congress leaders had been instructed to lodge complaints at police stations across Bengal.

The protests were triggered by comments made by Shastri during a recent religious programme at Liluah in Howrah. He appealed to Hindus in Bengal not to sell or consume non-vegetarian food near Durga Puja idols and described such food in derogatory terms. He also referred to people consuming non-vegetarian food during the festival as pakhandi.

The remarks touched a raw nerve in Bengal, where fish and meat often form part of the traditional offerings made to the goddess. The controversy was further sharpened by the fact that West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had shared the platform with Shastri shortly before the remarks and had encouraged him to establish a Bageshwar Dham centre in Bengal.

The Congress had moved against Shastri a few days earlier, with south Kolkata district Congress president Pradip Prasad lodging a written complaint at Bhawanipore police station, accusing the preacher of making remarks that hurt Bengali sentiments and those associated with Durga Puja.

The controversy escalated further on Thursday when Adhikari, speaking in the Assembly, defended Shastri and directed the police to act against those protesting against him.

Referring to the burning of Shastri’s photograph outside Bhawanipore police station, Adhikari said, "I saw some people burning his photograph in front of Bhawanipore police station. I am instructing the CP right now — those individuals must be arrested. Such things will not be tolerated in this state."

Defending Shastri’s visit to Liluah, Adhikari said, "A saint visited Liluah. He spoke of patriotism, nationalism and the concept of an undivided India. He explained his traditions and culture in his own way. Those who wish to accept his views may do so; those who do not, need not." He insisted that Shastri "did not intend to impose his views on anyone".

Adhikari’s intervention has turned what began as a dispute over a preacher’s comments on food and religious practice into a broader political confrontation with the Congress.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar accused the BJP of trying to intimidate people exercising their democratic right to protest. "The Indian National Congress has never been — and never will be — suppressed by threats," Sarkar said.

He warned that Congress workers would not retreat. "Since its inception, the Indian National Congress has never bowed down to injustice," he said, adding that the party’s history had been built through "protest, resistance and struggle".

The BJP, however, has faced an awkward contradiction over the issue. Its state president Samik Bhattacharya has himself rejected Shastri’s prescription on food, asking, "How can Bengalis not have fish and meat?" He argued that no visiting religious figure could decide what Bengalis should eat.

Ministers Dilip Ghosh and Agnimitra Paul have similarly stressed Bengal’s own traditions, including consumption of fish and meat during Durga Puja.

The Congress has seized on Adhikari’s decision to target the protesters, seeking to frame the controversy as something bigger than : whether a BJP government will protect dissent when a religious figure’s remarks offend Bengal’s cultural sensibilities.

Sarkar has promised to raise the pressure further. "In the police stations where FIRs have not yet been filed, I myself will return from Delhi to Kolkata, organise the programme of filing FIRs in every police station and lead this protest in person," he said.

Congress leader Debesh Chakraborty also condemned Shastri’s remarks, saying no outsider had the right to insult Bengal’s "thousand-year-old history, culture and dietary habits". He said the comments had "hurt the self-respect of the Bengali nation" and demanded immediate legal action and an apology.

Chakraborty warned that if action was not taken, the Congress would launch a larger movement, arguing that people across political lines had joined the protests to defend Bengal’s cultural identity.