The Calcutta High Court on Monday suggested that the CPI(M)’s cultural wing could organise bookstalls during the upcoming Kali Puja celebrations while hearing a petition challenging the denial of permission to set up temporary stalls during Durga Puja in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya made the oral suggestion after questioning whether the petitioners had any legal right to establish bookstalls at the festival venues merely because they had been doing so for several decades.
The petitioners approached the court after authorities refused to permit bookstalls in Naihati and Bongaon, where they claimed to have maintained the practice during Durga Puja celebrations for the past 50 years.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Shamim Ahmed submitted that permission had been withheld this year on the ground that instructions had been received from higher authorities.
During the hearing, Justice Bhattacharyya questioned the legal basis of the petitioners’ claim and suggested that the stalls could instead be organised during Kali Puja, scheduled to take place about a fortnight later.
Ahmed subsequently requested that the matter be released from the judge’s court. Justice Bhattacharyya said he would consider the request on Tuesday.
Political Dispute Over Bookstalls Near Puja Pandals
The controversy comes amid a political disagreement over the CPI(M)’s practice of organising bookstalls near Durga Puja pandals across West Bengal.
The party’s cultural wings have traditionally used the festivities to establish temporary bookstalls at various locations in the state.
Last month, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari sparked a political controversy by asking Durga Puja committees not to permit CPI(M) bookstalls near pandals if the party used the expression ‘Sharodotsav’ for the celebrations.
Adhikari argued that describing the festivities in those terms diminished the religious character of Durga Puja.
The High Court is expected to consider the petitioners’ request for the matter to be released from Justice Bhattacharyya’s court on Tuesday.
