Durga puja ‘tax’: Mamata or BJP, who’ll feel the pinch? | India Today Insight

Amid the persevering with income-tax row, the Trinamool government’s announcement of greater promises for Durga puja clubs will solely intensify the slugfest with the BJP
West Bengal politics is witnessing sparkling sparks ahead of the festive season. With the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP out to venture themselves as the real custodian of Bengali way of life and ethos, Durga puja, the state’s largest festival establishing October 4, has emerge as the present day space that both events choose to dominate and control.
An estimated 28,000 community Durga pujas are held in West Bengal. Though involvement in the puja or non secular gala’s has been an historic exercise among the state’s Congress politicians, the TMC has taken this ‘bhakti’ to more moderen heights, its authorities supplying doles and subsidies hitherto unseen. On August 30, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the furnish for associations keeping community Durga puja used to be being expanded from Rs 10,000 final 12 months to Rs 25,000. Puja associations run with the aid of female would be entitled to an extra Rs 5,000. Electricity payments incurred via puja committees would be eligible for a 25 per cent waiver.
Puja golf equipment may additionally welcome the financial ‘gift’, however the state BJP is unimpressed. Party normal secretary Sayantan Basu says: “Mamata Banerjee is throwing crumbs at puja committees. No amount of populism will help her in future elections. The BJP believes in justice for all and appeasement of none.”
Mamata additionally advised puja associations no longer to pay income tax and accused the BJP-led central authorities of the use of the organization to settle political ratings with opponents. It’s a charge she has frequently repeated this year. From the podium of government programmes and public rallies, she has been claiming that income-tax authorities are hounding puja committees-in other words, Bengal’s most famous pageant is below danger from the saffron camp.
The marketing campaign has been fought on social media too, such as the ‘Amar Gorbo Mamata’ web page on Facebook and #RespectDurgaPujo on Twitter. A caricature regarded on Facebook, displaying a perplexed goddess Durga being asked to produce PAN (Permanent Account Number), Aadhaar and income-tax returns as ‘gate-pass’ for getting into Bengal. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a clarification on August 13, debunking reviews about taxing Durga pujas. It said notices have been issued last December to only a handful of puja associations in order to nail puja contractors and tournament managers defaulting on tax. ‘The department had been getting statistics that various contractors working for puja committees have been now not paying due taxes,’ cited the CBDT letter.
Puja and politics have always rubbed shoulders in Bengal, and like other parties, the TMC has been no different. After the celebration came to energy in 2011, puja clubs began vying with each other to woo TMC leaders and functionaries-all aimed at building hype and mobilising funds. Soon, prominent Durga pujas came to be related with TMC heavyweights. For instance, ‘Bobby-r pujo’ (puja the place urban development minister Firhad Hakim aka Bobby is involved), ‘Partha-r pujo’ (puja related with training minister Partha Chatterjee), ‘Aroop-er pujo’ (after public works minister Aroop Biswas).
For the BJP, one of the main strategies to breach the TMC fortress in Bengal used to be unifying the Hindu vote. And Mamata’s alleged appeasement of minorities used to be simply the fuel it needed. In the opening with, the BJP used to be pushing its own pantheon of gods and goddesses-celebrating Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti and Janmashtami with elan, but it quickly realised that the way to Bengali hearts would be easier through their icons (the likes of Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Bose) and mother deities. Thus, Durga puja. The celebration seized the chance in 2017 when the Mamata authorities postponed the immersion of idols after Durga puja via a day to avoid a clash of dates with Muharram. The problem received unexpected traction as the BJP accused Mamata of undermining Hindus.
Now, the brilliant displaying in the Lok Sabha election-18 seats and a 23 per cent vote share-has naturally opened many puja club doors for the BJP in the state. For instance, ‘Shanghasree, Baish Palli’, a big-ticket Durga puja in Mamata’s meeting constituency of Bhabanipur (Kolkata South), replaced its president and Mamata’s younger brother Kartik with the BJP’s Basu. However, as phrase spread, the puja committee favouring the induction of BJP leaders used to be dissolved and Basu had to make an exit. Even the Durga idol artist, who had conceptualised the goddess as sitting on a lotus, was advised to go. However, some important Durga pujas in central and north Kolkata, where the Hindi-speaking populace is quite high, have made their preferences public.
The BJP is decided now not to let go of this momentum. “Mamata is enjoying dirty politics by way of speakme about Durga puja celebrations being taxed. We are planning to carry Amit Shah-ji to inaugurate a few pujas in Kolkata, however we might not disclose something now,” says a kingdom BJP leader, asking for anonymity. “We are preserving the names of puja committees patronised by using us underneath wraps as they would be attacked by way of Mamata’s goons.”
But even as the BJP draws up grand plans, Mamata is no longer the one to take a seat silent. After the supply for puja clubs, festive souls can anticipate her to announce a holiday bonanza too. A ‘devi’ with Durga puja bounties for all?