Suvendu Asks Durga Puja Committees to Review Permission for CPI(M) bookstalls if they use term 'Sharodotsav'

PTI, September 10, 2026, Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday asked Durga Puja committees not to allow CPI(M) book stalls outside pandals if they use the term 'Sharodotsav' to describe the festival instead of 'Durga Puja', minimising its religious character.

Speaking in the state Assembly, Adhikari accused sections of the Left of selectively targeting 'Sanatan Dharma' and the saffron colour, and urged Puja committees to prevent such book stalls from operating.

"A section of professors, who are so-called Leftists, are attacking 'Sanatanis'. They are selectively targeting the saffron colour. I would ask all Durga Puja committees that if the Communists write 'Sharodotsav' (autumn festival) instead of 'Durga Puja' at the book stalls they set up, they should not be allowed to operate," he said.

The CPI(M) and its affiliates set up book stalls near Durga Puja pandals every year, selling Marxist literature, party publications and other books, while using the festival to reach out to people.

In 1954, the first such CPI(M)-associated book stall was set up in Park Circus on the initiative of veteran Communist leader Muzaffar Ahmed.

The practice became particularly significant as party workers and local leaders were generally discouraged from directly participating in religious events.

After the Left Front's defeat in 2011, such red-cloth stalls became less common, though they continue to be organised at select locations.

Adhikari said his objection was not to the sale of books during the festival but to what he described as an attempt to deny or minimise its religious character by the use of the term 'Sharodotsav', literally Autumn festival.

He also warned that opposition to 'Sanatan Dharma' or the saffron colour would invite strict action in the future.

"This is the right time to pull out and cast away the seeds that the Communists have sown in this land that gave birth to ideas like that of Naxalism," Adhikari said.