Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati said the Gangasagar mela should be given the status of “national mela” — but that it may only happen if the BJP comes to power in West Bengal. The Shankaracharya said this during his visit to the mela on Monday.
On Tuesday, BJP MP Shamik Bhattacharya told The Indian Express, “The West Bengal BJP also wants the Ganga Sagar Mela to get the status of national mela , but in this case, the initiative has to be taken by the state… If the state government stops going against and attacking the Centre and works in coordination with the Centre, then only it is possible. But I do not want to make any comments regarding what Swami Nischalananda Saraswati of Puri has said as he is a very senior religious leader.”
TMC spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar told The Indian Express that Shankaracharya’s words “revealed the double standards” of the Centre.
“On one hand, they claim they are Hindu Sanatani Dharma supporters, on the other hand, one of the oldest religious congregations which is held at Sagar is continuously sidelined and ignored by the Central government. It also reveals that politics and religion are the concocted cocktail for the BJP government and thus it is dangerous for the nation… A religious leader is always concerned about the sufferings of the common people and from that concern, he has said that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi cannot be oblivious to the problem of the common people in this area, which he has been doing continuously since they have come to power,” he said.
BJP’s Bhattacharya further said, “Kalighat Ma Kali has refused to accept the file of Trinamool Congress, saying, ‘I do not have the power to save you’. I don’t think even Jagannath has the power to save them.”
CPI(M) leader Sujon Chakraborty said, “The delay in the building of the bridge is due to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. During the Left rule, the project for the bridge was final, and everything was final… At that time, Banerjee was in the Centre and had said that the port would take up the matter and that the state did not have to do anything.”
On January 5, the West Bengal Chief Minister attacked the Centre for “treating” the Ganga Sagar mela like a “stepchild” and not declaring it as a national mela or building a bridge for pilgrims.
The Chief Minister announced that the state government led by her would construct a 5-km-long Gangasagar Setu across the Muriganga river to connect the mainland to Sagar Island, where the annual Ganga Sagar Mela takes place, due to the Centre’s alleged lack of response to repeated requests for a bridge.