While inaugurating the festivities at a 100-year-old Durga Puja organised by a club in north Kolkata, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she won't spare anyone who tries to pollute the spirit of the festival.
A report on Anandabzar Patrika said that without naming either the CPI(M) or BJP, Banerjee said, "There are many religions. But festivals are for everyone. Anyone who tries to pollute the festival won't be spared. We also have to be alert so that no one can succeed in doing this."
Later, while inaugurating another Puja, Banerjee said, "These days you see people finding flaws with Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Eid, Chhat Puja. These people are inevitably associated with some or the other political group. I was in the Opposition for 34 years but never politicised festivals. So I am telling them, don't play with fire."
Earlier this year in March, clashes between Hindus and Muslims over Ram Navami celebrations in Purulia district left three dead. In April this year, the RSS brought out a rally in Kolkata where children were paraded with arms.
On social media too, there has been attempts to communalise what has been a community festival in West Bengal for very long. In 2017, around the Pujas, right wing supporters took to social media to diss an ad put out by Jawed Habib salons depicting the deity and her entourage as humans. Later, right wing trolls attacked the creators of a YouTube channel which shared the recipe of an 'egg roll' as a Puja treat. The trolls were 'upset' that the channel was espousing the eating of non-vegetarian food during the 'navratri'.