Amid the Durga Puja festivities, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress are sparring over “dry days” during the Durga Pujas. While the BJP leadership claims that this is not the culture of West Bengal that ‘dry days’ are done away, the Trinamool Congress is reminding the West Bengal BJP leadership of remarks made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who has recently announced that there will no “dry days” during Durga Puja in Assam.
The controversy started when Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that the Trinamool Congress government has allowed liquor shops to open even on Ashtami of Durga Puja. “This culture was not there before in Bengal. Trinamool was the first to start this culture after independence,” Mr. Adhikari said.
The BJP leader alleged that since the State government treasury is empty and the Trinamool government wants to fill the treasury on the one hand by selling liquor to the youth society. Mr. Adhikari has often been critical of the excise policy of the State government and has said that along with the “promoting liquor” the State government is promoting sale of lottery tickets. The West Bengal government has decided to do away with dry days during the pujas in 2017.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh raised the remarks by Assam Chief Minister to counter the Leader of the Opposition.
“LoP @SuvenduWB’s recent melodramatic outburst about the absence of ‘dry days’ during Durga Puja in Bengal is the kind of political theatrics that @BJP4India has become infamous for. On the other hand, @himantabiswa’s statement about the difficulty in declaring ‘dry days’ represents a stark departure from Mr. Adhikari’s stance,’ Mr. Ghosh said.
The Trinamool leader also added that the “lack of alignment within the party’s high-ranking members exposes the underlying disarray and confusion within the BJP’s leadership. If they cannot find common ground on seemingly straight forward issues, how can they aspire to lead the nation with unity and coherence? “
The West Bengal government had registered a record revenue of ₹16,272 crore from the sale of liquor. The revenue has recorded a 30% jump over the earlier year. The number of dry days in the State was reduced to 4.5 from 12 by the Trinamool Congress government. The dry days in the State are Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Muharram and half a day during Holi.