Adhikari recalls horrors of Partition, lashes out at Left & TMC
Times of India | 13 September 2026Speaking at the inauguration of a Ganesh Puja in Keshtopur, organised under the aegis of MLA Tarunjyoti Tiwari, Adhikari said the situation of Bengali Hindus could have been similar to that of Prabhu had Bengal not become a part of India following the efforts of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda.
“Watching those tears, I was thinking… if back then we hadn’t secured inclusion into India through the struggle led by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda, perhaps our situation today would have been just like Chinmoy Prabhu’s,” he said.
Adhikari also made a personal reference to his family’s experience during Partition, saying his mother had been forced to flee Barishal in East Bengal with her father solely because of their Hindu identity. “I believe that behind the creation of this West Bengal of ours lies history — on June 20, 1947, as the homeland of Bengali Hindus, this West Bengal was formed,” he said.
The CM accused the 34-year Left Front rule of suppressing Hindu traditions and alleged that the subsequent 15-year TMC govt attempted to “radicalise” and “Jamaat-ise” Bengal. “For 34 years, those who called religion ‘aafim (opium)’, the Communists, ruled. And for 15 years, attempts were made to turn it into a ‘Greater Bangladesh’,” he said.
He alleged that Left had sought to erase references to Hindu religious and cultural traditions, claiming that books by Swami Vivekananda, Swami Lokeswarananda and publications of Udbodhan and Bharat Sevashram Sangha were absent from Left-run book stalls, while works of Karl Marx and Lenin were promoted.
Adhikari also attacked the previous TMC govt over restrictions on Durga Puja immersion when Muharram coincided with Bijoya Dashami. Without naming former CM Mamata Banerjee, he alleged that established Hindu rituals were gradually being eroded.
Adhikari said his govt would ensure that Durga Puja inaugurations were held during Devi Paksha, beginning with Mahalaya, and reiterated his call for a ban on alcohol sales on Maha Ashtami.
The CM also sought to pitch a broader Hindu identity cutting across linguistic and regional lines, saying Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja and Chhath Puja should not be confined to particular communities or regions. “Some people used to think Ganesh Puja belonged only to Maharashtra. No. Ganapati Bappa belongs to Sanatanis across the entire world,” he said.
Similarly, Adhikari said Durga Puja was not exclusive to Kolkata and Chhath Puja was not only a festival of Biharis. “These artificial walls that were erected — ‘you speak Hindi, you are Gujarati, you are Bengali, you are Marwari’ — we broke that wall down. At the end of the day, we all are Hindustanis,” he said.
Adhikari called for people to remain united to protect their “name, identity, religion, values, heritage and lineage”, saying the responsibility of protecting West Bengal as the homeland of Bengali Hindus rested on everyone.
Backing Tiwari, who organised the Keshtopur puja, Adhikari said the MLA would fulfil the promises he had made to his constituents and assured that state govt would stand by him.
