CM Suvendu Adhikari at the Inauguration of a Ganesh Puja on Saturday
“For 34 years, those who called religion ‘aafim (opium)’, the Communists, ruled. And for 15 years, attempts were made to turn it into a ‘Greater Bangladesh’,” he said. Because of their Hindu identity, adhikari also made a personal reference to his family’s experience during Partition, saying his mother had been forced to flee Barishal in East Bengal with her father solely.
Speaking at the inauguration of a Ganesh Puja in Keshtopur, organised under the aegis of MLA Tarunjyoti Tiwari, Adhikari said the situation of Bengali Hindus could have been similar to that of Prabhu had Bengal not become a part of India following the efforts of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda. “Watching those tears, I was thinking… if back then we hadn’t secured inclusion into India through the struggle led by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda, perhaps our situation today would have been just like Chinmoy Prabhu’s,” he said. “I believe that behind the creation of this West Bengal of ours lies history — on June 20, 1947, as the homeland of Bengali Hindus, this West Bengal was formed,” he said. Adhikari said his govt would ensure that Durga Puja inaugurations were held during Devi Paksha, beginning with Mahalaya, and reiterated his call for a ban on alcohol sales on Maha Ashtami. Ganapati Bappa belongs to Sanatanis across the entire world,” he said. Similarly, Adhikari said Durga Puja was not exclusive to Kolkata and Chhath Puja was not only a festival of Biharis. At the end of the day, we all are Hindustanis,” he said.
The CM also sought to pitch a broader Hindu identity cutting across linguistic and regional lines, saying Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja and Chhath Puja should not be confined to particular communities or regions. “Some people used to think Ganesh Puja belonged only to Maharashtra. No. “These artificial walls that were erected — ‘you speak Hindi, you are Gujarati, you are Bengali, you are Marwari’ — we broke that wall down.
Kolkata: The tears of Chinmoy Prabhu across the border in Bangladesh had shaken the hearts of Sanatanis worldwide, CM Suvendu Adhikari said on Saturday, invoking the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, Partition of Bengal and his family’s displacement from East Bengal to launch a sharp attack on Left and Trinamool.