Bengal Food Row: Suvendu Adhikari Faces Heat Over Bageshwar Baba’s Durga Puja Remarks

A political controversy has erupted in West Bengal after religious preacher Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, popularly known as Bageshwar Baba, urged Bengalis to avoid non-vegetarian food during the Durga Puja festivities.
Shastri, the head priest of Bageshwar Dham in Madhya Pradesh, made the remarks at an event in Liluah, Howrah, on September 5. He criticised the consumption of fish and meat during the festival and used the term “pakhandi” while referring to people he accused of observing religious practices while eating non-vegetarian food.
His comments quickly triggered a backlash in Bengal, where fish and other non-vegetarian foods have a deep cultural and culinary association with Bengali society.
The controversy moved into the legal arena on September 8 when the South Kolkata District Congress Committee lodged a complaint at Bhawanipore police station.
Congress leaders alleged that Shastri's remarks could hurt Bengali sentiments and create social disharmony. The complaint sought registration of an FIR and appropriate legal action.
The police complaint, however, does not by itself establish that Shastri committed a criminal offence. Any decision to register an FIR or take further action would depend on the police examination of the statements, their context and the applicable law.
The controversy has also created an unusual political situation for the BJP in Bengal.
State BJP leaders have sought to distance themselves from the suggestion that Bengalis should be instructed about what they can or cannot eat during Durga Puja.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya has reportedly maintained that food choices are a matter of individual freedom and that no outside religious figure can dictate the dietary practices of Bengalis.
Other BJP leaders have similarly defended Bengal's distinctive food traditions, adding to the party's effort to prevent Shastri's remarks from becoming identified with its political position in the state.
The controversy has nevertheless drawn attention to Shastri's interactions with senior BJP leaders during his Bengal visit.
That political association has given Opposition parties an opportunity to question the ruling party over the platform provided to the religious preacher.
At the same time, the BJP has sought to distinguish between hosting or meeting a religious figure and endorsing every statement made by that person.
The dispute is particularly sensitive because Durga Puja is not only a major religious festival in Bengal but also a central part of the state's cultural and social identity.
For many critics, the issue is therefore larger than a debate over vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. They see it as a question of whether an individual religious figure should prescribe cultural practices to an entire community.
Supporters of Shastri's position, meanwhile, can argue that religious figures are entitled to advocate dietary practices based on their own interpretation of religious observance.
The immediate legal issue remains the police complaints filed against Shastri and whether authorities find sufficient grounds for further action.
The political debate is likely to continue as Durga Puja approaches, with rival parties seeking to frame the controversy around cultural identity, personal freedom and religious expression.
For now, the Bengal BJP's public response indicates that it does not want Shastri's dietary prescription to be treated as the party's position.
The episode demonstrates how quickly a comment about food can become a larger political controversy when it intersects with religion, regional identity and electoral politics