HINDUTVA GROUPS PERFORM SHASTRA PUJA ACROSS BENGAL

: Saffron outfits performed Shastra puja or weapon worship at several hundred places across Bengal on Bijoya Dashami, the last day of Durga puja, the state’s biggest annual festival.

While in most cases the weapons worshipped were those found in the hands of Goddess Durga, the puja at the state headquarters of Vishva Hindu Parishad, in Kolkata, was performed with firearms, including a rifle and a revolver.

Most of the pujas were held indoor, complying with the Calcutta high court order that barred them outside places of worship.

However, at several places in the districts of Burdwan, Birbhum and West Midnapore, armed processions were taken out by various akharas that maintain links with such Hindutva outfits as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), VHP and Hindu Samhati.

“Weapon worship is a Hindu tradition... However, Bengali Hindus had almost forgotten this tradition. We are trying to revive it because that’s the call of the hour in the state,” said Jayashis Samaddar, VHP’s south Kolkata coordinator.

A Bajrang Dal activist said that the outfit previously performed the puja only in fields where RSS conducts their Shakha (unit) but decided this year to take the puja to localities “to raise awareness among Hindus”.

Sources in the saffron camp said that VHP and Bajrang Dal had initially planned at least four major Shastra puja events but later decide to keep the event lowkey and focussed on holding more small-scale events. More than 300 pujas were organised by VHP alone, the organisation’s Bengal, Odisha, Sikkim and Andaman in-charge Sachindra Nath Singha said. According to Hindu Samhati vice-president Devdutta Maji, their workers and volunteers participated in more than a hundred Shastra puja events.

On Saturday, Hindu Samhati president Debtanu Bhattacharya was seen in Durgapurwielding a sword before Hindus carried out a procession with sharp-edged weapons.

KOLKATA