Bageshwar Dham chief priest Dhirendra Krishna Shastri’s remarks urging Bengali Hindus to avoid non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja have triggered a political and cultural storm in West Bengal, with Congress leaders filing police complaints and seeking an FIR and legal action. Speaking during his three-day Hanumant Katha programme at Liluah in Howrah, Shastri said non-vegetarian food should not be sold near Durga Puja idols and criticised those who eat fish or meat during the festival, describing them as “pakhandis” (hypocrites) and referring to such food as “dirty”.
His comments came days after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) issued an advisory asking Puja organisers to keep non-vegetarian food away from pandals, although the organisation clarified that it was not seeking a blanket ban on meat or fish. The controversy has since widened into a debate over Bengali identity, religious freedom, cultural traditions and the role of religious figures in prescribing personal choices. West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has publicly rejected Shastri’s remarks, saying Bengalis will continue eating according to their traditions, while BJP leader Dilip Ghosh also defended Bengal’s long-standing practices involving fish and meat.
What Dhirendra Shastri Said?
Shastri made the remarks on September 6, the concluding day of his Hanumant Katha programme at Liluah Workshop Ground. Addressing his followers, he appealed to Hindus in Bengal to observe Navratri with devotion and said non-vegetarian food should not be sold around Durga idols. In another part of the speech, he criticised the practice of cooking and consuming fish and meat around Puja pandals, calling it “dirty food” and saying people who consumed non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja could not be considered religious. He also urged people to “boycott” such individuals.
The comments struck a particularly sensitive chord because food is deeply intertwined with Bengali cultural identity. Fish, mutton and other non-vegetarian dishes remain part of everyday Bengali cuisine and are also associated with particular religious and festive practices. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya therefore distanced his party from Shastri’s prescription, stressing that what people eat is a personal choice. He pointed to the traditional Bengali menu during Durga Puja, saying, “On Ashtami, Bengalis eat luchi, and on Navami, Bengalis eat mutton.” He also invoked Swami Vivekananda while arguing that no religious leader or political party could decide what Bengalis should eat.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh similarly argued that Bengal has its own religious traditions, including animal sacrifice and the offering of fish or meat as prasad at certain temples. Economist Sanjeev Sanyal also entered the debate, arguing that meat has historically been part of Shakta traditions associated with the worship of Durga and Kali. These responses underline the central cultural argument: there is no single, uniform way in which Durga Puja is observed across Bengal.
From Religious Appeal To Police Complaints
The controversy escalated after Congress leaders approached the police. South Kolkata District Congress president Pradip Prasad lodged a complaint at Bhabanipur Police Station, while Central Kolkata District Congress president Manas Sarkar also submitted a complaint concerning Shastri’s remarks. The complaints allege that the comments insulted Bengali cultural identity, hurt religious sentiments and had the potential to disturb social harmony. Congress has demanded an apology, investigation and legal action, including an FIR and arrest if the allegations are found to warrant it.
Importantly, reports currently establish that police complaints have been filed and that Congress has demanded an FIR; they do not establish that an FIR against Shastri has already been registered. This distinction matters when reporting the legal status of the case. As of the latest reports, the complaints remain the basis of the demand for police action.
The political backdrop has added another layer to the controversy. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari met Shastri during the latter’s Howrah programme and had earlier urged him to establish a Bageshwar Dham centre in Bengal. Shastri was also hosted for dinner by Adhikari and his Cabinet colleagues at a state-run guest house in Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress has criticised the government for extending what it described as a “grand welcome” to a religious figure whose subsequent remarks were perceived as insulting Bengali traditions.
The controversy also follows an August 28 VHP advisory asking Durga Puja organisers to keep non-vegetarian food away from pandals. The VHP explicitly said it was not seeking a blanket ban on non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja, acknowledging that the festival in Bengal has never been strictly vegetarian. Its stated position was that meat and fish should, where served, be kept in designated areas away from the idol and the immediate Puja space. Shastri’s subsequent remarks were therefore seen by critics as giving a much more forceful religious and social dimension to an issue that had already entered public debate.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Religious observance is deeply personal, but so are food choices and cultural traditions. A person or religious organisation has the right to advocate vegetarianism or explain its own interpretation of religious practice; that right should coexist with the freedom of others to follow different traditions without being labelled impious, hypocritical or culturally inferior.
Bengal’s Durga Puja has evolved over generations through a complex mix of faith, family customs, community celebrations, art and food, and no single interpretation can erase that diversity. At the same time, disagreement should not become an excuse for abuse, political provocation or social hostility. The police complaints should be examined according to law, while political parties and religious leaders should exercise restraint and avoid turning a cultural disagreement into another fault line in society. Can Bengal’s diverse religious and culinary traditions be respected without one community’s way of worship or eating being imposed on another?
