Durga Puja is virtually knocking on West Bengal’s door, but the state is yet to acquire a carvinalesque atmosphere, thanks to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s penchant for creating controversies. Like the previous year, this time, too, a crisis brew over idol immersion on Ekadashi, the 11th day, which coincides with Muharram.

Again, the Calcutta High Court had to come to the rescue of citizens who felt victimised by Banerjee’s diktat banning immersions on October 1, citing law-and-order problems. Bengal, it must be mentioned, has a sizeable number of Muslims who comprise about one-third of the state’s population. In Murshidabad district, Muslims are in the majority, while in Malda there isn’t much difference in the numerical strength between the two communities. The HC order has been hailed, particularly, in these two areas by the Hindus where Durga Puja has tended to become flashpoints over the past few years.However, many people in Malda felt that Banerjee shouldn’t have meddled in this affair since her interference has only made matters murkier. Some even came up with the suggestion that Muharram processions could have happened between 9 am and 4 pm, leaving the evening and the night free for the Durga Puja organisers to claim the streets. In Malda, the BJP has made steady inroads in the recent past. In Murshidabad, the refrain was why create a mountain out of a molehill when the rights are equal for both Hindus and Muslims? Curiously, the Trinamool Congress is also a huge patron of Durga Puja clubs, especially big ones, and many of its ministers are associated with renowned associations. Mamata’s order had left them unhappy, but such is her writ that her ministers would rather bottle up their disenchantment instead of taking it up with her.

Another talking point is that none of the prominent Muslim leaders in the state spoke against her order, which could have given the discourse on communal harmony a much-needed fillip. By opting for silence, they have allowed the suspicion to gain ground that the CM’s fear for communal clashes was a perfect alibi to uphold the interests of the Muslim community. Mamata knows she can’t take the matter to the Supreme Court since the law is against such arbitrary actions. Her political opposition, namely the BJP, and the Left, now a shrinking entity, has hailed the HC verdict. Had she been truly pragmatic, she would have just allowed things to take their natural course. But, with Mamata nobody hazards a guess!