West Bengal Village Has To Forgo Yet Another Durga Puja Due To Objections From Muslim Families

For the fourth successive year, hundreds of households in a village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district have been denied permission to organise Durga puja by the local administration following objections by a few Muslim families in the village.

The organisers of the Puja submitted their request to the office of the District magistrate, Police Superintendent, Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) and Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Rampurhat and Block Development Officer (BDO) of Nalhati-I on 1 September and again followed up on 23 September.

According to sources in the district Trinamool Congress, concerned officials have already settled on the number of pujas that will be held across Birbhum, hence, it was stated that there was no need to allow any new pujas. But these organisers state that they were frequently denied permission after objections from about 25 Muslim families in the village.

Chandan Sau of Kanglapahari Durga Mandir Committee said that since they have not been able to organise the annual festivity in their village, all women and children have to travel three to eight kilometres to celebrate the occasion in nearby villages. “District officials are not responding as they don’t want to antagonise the Muslims,” Sau said.