BJP leader's role in puja committee under scanner amid Kolkata Chorbagan pandal stampede that killed 19

The Kolkata Durga Puja pandal stampede that left at least 19 dead and 25 injured on Saturday might have dealt a blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), although West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered a probe and arrests, raising questions about accountability under his five-month-old government.

“Our party landed in the crosshairs of the opposition because Vijay Ojha, our Jorasanko MLA, became the chairman of the Chore Bagan Sarbojanin Durgatsav Samity in July. But he is not the only one. Many BJP MLAs and ministers in Bengal are associated with community puja committees,” a BJP MLA said, requesting anonymity.

“This happened despite repeated warnings against the trend by BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya. His words fell on deaf ears,” the MLA added.

Ojha on Sunday told the media that he was not aware that the entry and exit routes to this year’s pandal at Chore Bagan were allegedly too narrow to meet safety standards. “No,” Ojha said when the question was put to him.

“I am also on the committee. The chief minister has ordered a probe,” Ojha added.

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) targeted the BJP government, with spokesperson and Kolkata MLA Kunal Ghosh posting a purported copy of a letter written by Jayanta Banerjee, the general secretary of the old committee, on July 17, stating that he and seven other members were stepping down.

“I, Jayanta Banerjee, current secretary of the Chore Bagan Sarbojanin Durgatsav Samity, on this day, 17.7.2026, do hereby relieve myself from all responsibilities as secretary of this year’s puja and members and executive members are being relieved of their responsibilities. I offer my best wishes to the new committee which will take charge in the future,” the two-line letter, purportedly signed with an official seal by Banerjee, said.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the letter, which neither cited any reason for the mass resignation nor mentioned any election of the executive committee, a common practice among registered societies with bank accounts.

To be sure, Samik Bhattacharya publicly refused an invitation from the 78-year-old College Square Durga Puja Committee to be its chairman on July 15, days before Ojha became chairman of the Chore Bagan puja committee.

In a Bengali post on X, Bhattacharya wrote: “Not just College Square, I will neither be the president of any Durga Puja committee in the state nor take the responsibility of managing any puja.”

Bhattacharya’s post came after former Trinamool cabinet minister Aroop Biswas and his brother Swarup Biswas were removed from the committee of the famous Suruchi Sangha Durga Puja in south Kolkata’s Tollygunge, and Saurav Sikadar, the BJP MLA from Dum Dum North (in North 24 Parganas district), was made the new committee secretary on July 12.

Bhattacharya did not speak for himself but sent a message to all BJP leaders.

“An MLA or a minister can opt to be the president of a puja committee in his constituency. That can be his personal decision. But it does not mean that MLAs, MPs and leaders of a political party can take responsibilities of one puja after another,” Bhattacharya wrote.

“Durga Puja is not for political parties. It is for the people. The independence and individual characters of the puja committees should be intact. Puja should not be controlled by politics,” Bhattacharya added.

Meanwhile, the BJP state president made no statement on the Chore Bagan incident till Sunday noon, while the government imposed a limit on the number of revellers allowed to enter big-budget pujas like Suruchi Sangha following the stampede.

Organisers of some small-budget and rather insignificant pujas told HT on Sunday that the old committees were “dismantled under instructions from local BJP leaders” and old committee members were asked to resign against their wishes in most cases.

“Ours is a small-budget puja but the old committee president, secretary and treasurer were made to resign and a new committee was formed. We got our puja grant from the government after that,” a member of a puja committee in the Lake police station area said, requesting anonymity.

The organiser of another small puja, held for over 70 years in the Rashbehari assembly constituency represented by BJP’s Swapan Dasgupta, said preparations for the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections were also under way alongside the puja preparations.

“With the number of Kolkata’s municipal wards increased from 144 to 209 on the basis of population density during the post-May delimitation, the BJP has to find acceptable candidates. In our ward, the daughter of a businessman has put up posters outside a nearby puja pandal, claiming to be a patron of the event. We have been told she may contest the KMC election on a BJP ticket,” the puja committee president said.

State BJP spokesperson Ritesh Tiwari defended his colleagues. “For decades, TMC MLAs and ministers such as Partha Chatterjee, Aroop Biswas and Firhad Hakim have been closely associated with community Durga Pujas. Before that, veteran Congress leader Somem Mitra was also associated with pujas. What is wrong if some BJP leaders are associated with some pujas? The chief minister has ordered a probe and the police have arrested several people,” Tiwari, who is also the MLA from Kolkata’s Kashipur-Belgachhia constituency, said.

In December 2021, UNESCO added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, giving international recognition to the biggest religious festival of the 331-year-old city and the state of West Bengal.

The BJP’s involvement with the festival, however, began in 2020, a year after it set a record by winning 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats and focused on the 2021 assembly polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 22, 2020 had virtually joined the commencement of the first Durga Puja the BJP state unit organised at the Salt Lake campus of the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC). No other prime minister had inaugurated a Durga Puja in Bengal before that day. The event was streamed live across all 294 assembly constituencies of the poll-bound state.

After the BJP won only 77 seats, many in the saffron camp distanced themselves from the puja. “It is not the BJP’s puja. BJP does not organise pujas,” the state unit’s former president Dilip Ghosh said on October 4, 2021.