In Santiniketan, restrictions during Holi prompt BJP’s ‘appeasement’ attack
“Our department is only requesting citizens to stay away from the forest area so that environment can be protected,” West Bengal’s minister of state for forests said
Kolkata: An old forest of Sonajhuri trees and its adjacent Visva Bharati university campus at Santiniketan in Bengal’s Birbhum district was at the centre of a political row that erupted on Thursday over measures to keep festive revelers away from the UNESCO world heritage site.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the restrictions were aimed at minority appeasement.
“This is the real ‘ Aurangzebi mindset’ of Mamata Banerjee! Mamata Banerjee banned Holi in Shantiniketan to aid Ramzan and Friday prayers. Mamata Banerjee is acting like a Begum. Santiniketan Basanta Utsav in Sonajhuri Haat in Shantiniketan is a revered celebration where people from across the globe converge to enjoy the Holi festival but Mamata Banerjee knows just to appease her vote bank!” BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said in a post on X on Thursday.
BJP’s Bengal leaders such as Suvendu Adhikari echoed Bhandari.
“The district police have directed that Holi celebrations must be over by 10 am on March 14 at Santiniketan since it is a Friday,” Adhikari told the media.
Birbaha Hansda, West Bengal’s minister of state for forests, rebutted the claim.
“The government has not banned Holi in Santiniketan. Our department is only requesting citizens to stay away from the forest area so that environment can be protected. Colours used during Holi contains chemicals that harm the trees. I request people not to do politics over this,” Hansda said.
Santiniketan town, where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore ran his father’s school and, in 1921, set up Visva-Bharati, Bengal’s only central university, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List on September 17, 2023.
India had been striving since 2011 to get a UNESCO tag for the town of which the forest and the multi-acre university campus are an integral part.
A Visva Bharati official, requesting anonymity, said, “Even before the UNESCO recognition came, the university has been trying to protect the Sonajhuri forest and the campus by trying to keep revelers out during Basanta Utsab, the spring festival Tagore started. This year, it was held on March 11 amid fanfare but tourists and local people were not allowed inside the open campus.”
He added, “Since Holi will be observed across the country on March 14, the university decided to hold Basanta Utsab on March 11 to avoid the rush. This was an administrative decision. Outsiders have not been allowed during Basanta Utsab after 2019.”
Rahul Kumar, the divisional forest officer, said that the forest department has sought help from the local police and Bolpur municipality and it was the responsibility of citizens to protect the trees.
“People gather by the thousands at Sonajhuri during festivals. Vehicles are parked inside the forest area. We don’t want that. People should act responsibly,” Kumar told reporters in Birbhum.
“The haat witnessed large crowds during Basanta Utsab in the past. Traffic congestion became unbearable. Trees were destroyed. That’s why this decision has been taken by the government,” Tanmoy Mitra, president of the Sonajhuri haat committee, said.
