West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari last week offered prayers at the Kalighat Temple on the occasion of ‘Kaushiki Amavasya’ and partook of a traditional bhog that included fish and ‘basanti pulao’. Interestingly, the timing of the visit gave the ritual a political context.The meal came amid a political controversy over Bageshwar Dham chief Dhirendra Krishna Shastri’s recent appeal to Bengali Hindus to refrain from eating non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja. As expected, the remarks kicked up a political storm, forcing the BJP’s Bengal unit to publicly distinguish itself from Dhirendra Shastri’s position on food.Chief minister Adhikari, who had shared a stage with Shastri earlier this month and invited him to establish a centre in Bengal, then got into the balancing act.“A religious figure is entitled to express his opinion, but whether people accept it or not is a personal matter,” the chief minister said after his Kalighat visit.Adhikari also referred to his own practices, saying he follows a sattvik diet on Ashtami and during Kartik, while accepting fish offered to Goddess Kali as bhog and goat meat as prasad.“A saint or a religious leader is entitled to express their opinion. People may choose to accept it or not. On Mahashtami, when I worship Maa Durga, I consume sattvik food. During the month of Kartik also, I consume sattvik food. At the same time, as a Bengali, I accept the bhog offered to Maa with fish. I also accept the prasad of goat sacrifice. Today, whatever was offered to Maa in the afternoon, the temple priests gave me the same. There was fish head and fried fish, along with basanti pulao,” he said.
From Liluah to Kalighat
All this began on September 4, when Adhikari shared the stage with Shastri at a Hanumant Katha programme at the Liluah Workshop Ground in Howrah.
Dhirendra Shastri on Durga Puja.
Addressing Shastri, Adhikari said: “Baba Maharaj Ji, please open a centre here. There should also be a Bageshwar Dham centre. This is the land of saints and of spiritual awakening.”Two days later, on September 6, Shastri appealed to Hindus in Bengal not to sell, cook or eat non-vegetarian food near Durga Puja idols during Navratri. He described those consuming such food as “pakhandi” and called for opposition to the practice.“I am appealing to the Hindus of Bengal, that during Navratri, even if you don’t keep the idols of the Goddess, do not sell or consume non-veg near the idols. I do not like it when dirty non-vegetarian food is eaten during Durga Puja and at gatherings linked to the festivities. I want the Hindus of Kolkata to awaken and boycott such people. These people cannot be considered religious; they are pakhandi (hypocrites). Wake up and expel those people,” he appealed.
BJP pushback
The remarks triggered criticism from the opposition and prompted the Bengal BJP to distance itself from the dietary prescription.State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said no one could decide what Bengalis should eat.“How can Bengalis not have fish and meat?” he said, adding that people in Bengal would continue with their traditional food practices. He also invoked Swami Vivekananda while defending the consumption of meat and fish in Bengal’s religious traditions.
BJP dismissed all anxieties over Durga Puja.
Other BJP leaders, including Dilip Ghosh, also said food choices were a matter of personal preference and referred to the place of meat in some Bengali religious traditions.The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) also found itself navigating the controversy following statements made during an interactive session with Kolkata puja organizers. Swami Nirgunananda, a member of the VHP’s central advisory council, had suggested that non-vegetarian food stalls be kept away from the immediate area around Durga idols and situated in designated spaces outside pandals to maintain sanctity and cleanliness.When his comments were interpreted as an official organisational diktat restricting meat sales, VHP International president Alok Kumar issued a formal clarification. “Vishva Hindu Parishad has not issued any directions regarding the arrangements at Durga Puja pandals… worship of the Goddess should take place according to tradition and the atmosphere should be one of love and devotion,” it said.The Kalighat temple is associated with Bengal’s ‘Shakta’ tradition, in which offerings can include fish and meat. The bhog included several varieties of fish, along with other vegetarian dishes and goat meat.That tradition sits somewhat differently from the vegetarian dietary practices associated with Navratri in several parts of north and west India.
The not-so-new ‘maach-bhaat’ row
The controversy over Shastri’s remarks comes months after fish and meat had already become part of the BJP-TMC contest over Bengali identity during the assembly election campaign.Mamata Banerjee repeatedly alleged during the campaign that a BJP government would restrict what Bengalis could eat. At a rally in Purulia on March 29, she said: “BJP says can’t eat fish, meat, eggs.” She subsequently argued that restrictions on meat and fish sales in some BJP-ruled states showed what could lie ahead for Bengal.The issue became prominent enough for senior BJP leaders to address it directly. Amit Shah clarified that “consumption of fish, eggs will not be stopped” if the BJP came to power in Bengal, calling Mamata’s claim a rumour.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought to engage with the issue, though from a different direction. At a rally in Haldia, he spoke about Bengal’s fish production and said the state could become self-sufficient in fish under a BJP government. “In 15 years, TMC couldn’t even give you fish. We created a separate ministry for fisheries,” he said, contrasting Bengal’s production with that of Bihar and Assam.The BJP’s campaign also included more visible efforts to counter the perception that it was opposed to Bengali food habits. Leaders publicly ate fish and meat, while BJP candidates and workers used fish in campaign imagery. On Poila Boishakh, TMC organised a “Maach-Bhaat-e-Bangali” procession, alleging that the BJP would impose restrictions on fish and meat.The argument did not remain confined to the two parties. TMC leaders presented food as part of the broader question of Bengali identity. BJP leaders, in turn, sought to emphasise that dietary choices would remain a matter of personal freedom.
The Bengal and Bengali dilemma for Suvendu
Months after the BJP swept Bengal in assembly elections, the opposition has sought to use the same “outsider” charge to try and alienate the saffron party from the voters. Congress filed a police complaint against Shastri, alleging that his comments hurt Bengali sentiments, while invoking the “outsider” argument that the TMC had used against the BJP during the election. Congress’s complaint described his remarks as an affront to Bengali traditions and social harmony.The TMC, which had made fish and meat part of its cultural-identity campaign against the BJP, is also again using the remark against the party.As CM, however, Adhikari has also taken a position on protests against Shastri.On September 10, he directed the Kolkata Police commissioner to arrest those who allegedly burnt Shastri’s photographs during a protest in Bhawanipur. “Not in Bengal,” he said, making clear that burning photographs as a form of protest would not be tolerated.The move has produced another political contest. Congress has criticised the arrests and accused the government of protecting Shastri while acting against those protesting his remarks. One Congress leader, Atanu Das, was subsequently arrested.
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The larger question for BJP
The recent row has brought an old question back for the BJP in Bengal: how does the party’s Hindu politics sit with the state’s own traditions?Bengal has a strong Shakta tradition, centred on Kali and Durga. In this tradition, the line between what is considered religious and what is considered non-vegetarian is not always drawn in the same way as it is in northern/western India. Fish, and in some places meat, can be part of offerings and rituals.That makes food an unusually sensitive issue in Bengal. And for many Bengalis, it is tied to family customs, festivals and a sense of what is distinctly ‘Bengali’.Suvendu Adhikari is leading the first BJP government in Bengal. For now, he might be able to shut down critics by consuming fish bhog at Kalighat. But it will be interesting to see how he manages BJP’s national Hindu politics in Bengal while also balancing the “Bengaliness”.
