Had West Bengal not been created, we would have suffered fate of Chinmoy Das of Bangladesh, says Suvendu Adhikari

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. File | Photo Credit: ANI Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday (September 12, 2026) said that had West Bengal not been created as a separate homeland for Bengali Hindus, people of the State would have suffered the same of of Chinmoy Das of Bangladesh.“I was thinking, had we not become part of India because of the struggles of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda [founder of Bharat Sevashram Sangh], our fate would have been similar to Chinmoy Prabhu,” Mr. Adhikari said while inaugurating Ganesh Puja in Kolkata.Mr. Adhikari also emphasised the plight of incarcerated Bangladeshi Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu, after photographs of him grieving beside his mother’s mortal remains surfaced in the media. “The tears of Chinmoy Prabhu had moved ‘sanatanis’ across the world,” the Chief Minister said.Chinmoy Das is a Bangladeshi Hindu monk who had been in jail for nearly two years on charges of allegedly disrespecting the country’s national flag. He was granted five-hour parole this week to attend his mother’s funeral. The Chief Minister had participated in several protest rallies as Leader of Opposition when the monk was arrested in October 2024.During the event, Mr. Adhikari targeted both the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress government, accusing them of destroying the cultural traditions of Bengali Hindus in the State and promised to restore the religious and cultural traditions.Mr. Adhikari said that during the 34 years of the Left Front government, the traditional Hindu practices were ignored and forgotten. The Chief Minister, who had criticised the Left parties for calling the festival “Sharadotsav” instead of Durga Puja on Saturday (September 12), criticised the books that were sold in the Left parties' stall in the pandal.“They used to sit away far from the Durga Puja pandal under a red tent. Books by Vivekananda, Lokeshwarananda, and Bharat Sevashram are not available. Books that have the history of the creation of West Bengal are not available. Books on the partition of India on the basis of the two-nation theory are not available. Foreign books by Karl Marx are available,” Mr. Adhikari said.Taking on the 15-year-old Trinamool Congress regime, Mr. Adhikari said that there was ‘Jamaatification’ of West Bengal, where Durga Puja pandals were inaugurated in Pitri-Paksha, considered inauspicious, and the immersion schedule was changed as it coincided with Muharram.“The former Chief Minister, whom I had defeated twice, had said at Netaji Indoor Stadium that immersion dates have coincided with Muharram and thus they will be changed. You cannot do that. Whatever has been written in the almanack should be followed,” he said.The Chief Minister said that his government is seeking to bring back the traditional calendar and practices associated with Durga Pujas. Mr. Adhikari said that in an attempt to restore the tradition of Durga pujas, he has announced that no community pujas will be inaugurated before Mahalaya, and Ashtami (eight day of the festival) will be a dry day. Published - September 13, 2026 08:15 am IST