BJP's Cultural Counteroffensive: Reclaiming Bengali Identity During Durga Puja

West Bengal's BJP is leveraging Durga Puja to counter the TMC's ''anti-Bengali'' narrative. By engaging diaspora Bengalis, reviving Puja at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, and increasing bookstalls, BJP aims to integrate into Bengal's cultural identity and challenge the TMC's hold over ''Bangali asmita'' (Bengali pride).

In a move to redefine its cultural relevance, West Bengal's BJP is using Durga Puja to counter claims by the TMC of being anti-Bengali. The strategy involves a blend of religious and cultural symbolism, aimed at weaving the BJP into the cultural fabric of the region.

By deploying over 100 leaders to 22 states, including significant hubs of Bengali diaspora, the BJP hopes to influence sentiments back home. This outreach is seen as part of a broader effort to dispel the TMC's narrative of the BJP as culturally alien to Bengal.

Central to these efforts is the revival of the Durga Puja at Salt Lake's Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, once a BJP cultural highlight. The party is also scaling up efforts, such as bookstalls at pandals, to strengthen its outreach, challenging the TMC's traditional dominance in the festival's celebrations.

(With inputs from agencies.)