CPI(M) Rebuts West Bengal CM's Criticism of Durga Puja Bookstalls
CPI(M) leaders rejected the West Bengal Chief Minister's charge that their Durga Puja bookstalls ignore Indian icons, calling the remarks undemocratic.
The CPI(M) on Sunday pushed back against West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's criticism of the party's bookstalls at Durga Puja pandals, maintaining that the stalls stock titles spanning a wide range of subjects, including the lives and works of Indian icons.
Speaking after inaugurating a Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in Kestopur, Mr. Adhikari had alleged that the stalls sold works by "foreign" communist figures such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin while carrying nothing on Swami Vivekananda, Swami Lokeshwarananda or Swami Pranavananda. On Thursday, he further accused Left leaders of deliberately targeting the icons of Sanatan Dharma and urged Durga Puja committees not to permit Left-affiliated bookstalls near pandals during the festival, which he said would be called 'Sharodotsav' rather than Durga Puja.
CPI(M) State secretary Md. Salim described the Chief Minister's statement as an attack on democracy. "Democracy means co-existence of a variety of cultures and ideas," he told a press conference in Murshidabad, likening the criticism to faulting a sweet shop for not stocking cashews and raisins. He noted that the RSS's Gita Publication also sells books on Hindu religion, and that no one questions its failure to stock Marx.
Senior party leader Sujan Chakraborty said the Chief Minister did not appear to know what the stalls actually sell and had no right to dictate their contents. He said the party's progressive bookstalls have always offered books on a wide range of subjects, including the lives and works of Indian figures such as Swami Vivekananda, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Rabindranath Tagore. The CPI(M) also posted photographs of its stalls on social media to show that books by Swami Vivekananda were available every year.
Mr. Chakraborty accused the Chief Minister of trying to incite people during the festive season, adding that the party would not accept such attempts. The CPI(M) and its affiliates have traditionally set up bookstalls near Durga Puja pandals, a practice that dates to 1954, when the first such stall was established at Park Circus on the initiative of veteran Communist leader Muzaffar Ahmed.