Suruchi Sangha, other big pujas in post-poll colour-change mode
Times of India | 14 July 2026
Kolkata: The post-assembly poll tectonic shift in Bengal’s politics has started reshaping the colours and contours of Kolkata’s marquee Durga Pujas, with many of them overhauling their organising committees to reflect the changes in the political landscape.
Clubs that have been associated with Trinamool Congress veterans are now inducting BJP MLAs and functionaries in key roles, a change that may signal the changing character of some of the city’s most-viewed and influential festive platforms.
The most striking change has come about at Suruchi Sangha, the New Alipore puja whose future appeared uncertain even a few days ago after the regime change and an LIC legal notice over the ground that hosted the pandal. The club has unveiled a revamped 15-member committee, appointing BJP North Dum Dum MLA Sourav Sikdar as secretary and inducting nine senior BJP workers, including BJP South Kolkata district chief Anupam Bhattacharya. Sikdar lives in New Alipore. Former sports minister Aroop Biswas and his brother, Swarup Biswas, who was arrested around six weeks ago, have both been dropped.
“The puja will be organised on a much grander scale but it will be free of VIP culture. I have joined the committee not as an MLA but as a local resident. This year’s festival will truly reflect public participation,” Sikdar said, adding that the Khuti Puja would be held on July 24 at the traditional venue.
The Suruchi Sangha puja, one of the city’s biggest attractions, became synonymous with the Biswas brothers. Former CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the puja and penned its theme song on several occasions.
This political realignment is visible across several other prominent pujas as well.
Behala West BJP MLA Indranil Khan is the new chief patron of the Barisha Sarbajanin Durgotsab. “We always invite the incumbent MLA to be part of the advisory committee. He has agreed to become our chief patron. Preparations are on and we will unveil this year’s theme during the Khuti Puja on Ulto Rath,” senior club member Tanmay Chatterjee said.
Behala Young Men’s Association has included both Behala West MLA Khan and Behala East MLA Sankar Sikdar in its organising committee, with one serving as president and the other as chief patron.
Several Durga Puja committees across Kolkata have also felicitated newly elected BJP MLAs in their respective constituencies over the past few weeks.
BJP MLA and junior tourism minister Purnima Chakraborty is set to replace former finance minister Sashi Panja in a leadership role at Shyampukur Sarbajanin. “The committee is yet to be finalised but we have invited Chakraborty to lead the puja and organise it with the same grandeur as in previous years,” senior club member Subhomoy Mullick said.
BJP MLAs Sajal Ghosh (Baranagar) and Tarunjyoti Tiwari (Rajarhat-Gopalpur) are in demand to grace several puja committees in Baranagar and the the Lake Town-Dum Dum belt as the chief patron.
South Dum Dum’s Tarun Dal, where former fire minister Sujit Bose was the president, has dissolved its previous committee altogether; Tiwari has been appointed president. “We have already held our first round of meetings and are determined to make this year’s puja bigger than ever,” the club’s new secretary, Anil Giri, said.
Sayantan Kanjilal, secretary of Tarun Sangha in South Dum Dum (another puja previously associated with Bose), said both Tiwari and Rajarhat-New Town MLA Piyush Kanodia attended the club’s Khuti Puja last week.
There are some major pujas, however, that are yet to undergo such dramatic makeovers. Chetla Agrani and Tridhara Sammilani have largely retained their existing organising committees. Chetla Agrani continues to be headed by former Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim; Tridhara Sammilani is led by former Rashbehari MLA Debasish Kumar. Both functionaries have distanced themselves from the loyalist faction of the Trinamool Congress and are now aligned with the party’s rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee