Kolkata, Jan 23 (PTI) Saraswati Puja was celebrated across West Bengal on Friday, with people offering prayers to the goddess of knowledge in homes, educational institutions and clubs.
With the Assembly elections approaching, politicians cutting across party lines visited the pandals in different areas and offered puja to the goddess as part of their outreach initiatives.
Apart from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, TMC MP Mala Roy, MLAs Atin Ghosh and Manoranjan Byapari and senior leader Kunal Ghosh visited different pandals and offered puja to the goddess.
Leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, Union minister Sukanta Majumdar and state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya visited different puja pandals and prayed to the goddess of learning.
Bhattacharya also participated in the puja at the state party office in central Kolkata and joined other leaders and workers in chanting prayers.
At Jadavpur University, Saraswati pujas were organised by the TMCP and ABVP separately with police personnel deployed outside campus to maintain peace.
“It is unfortunate that Saraswati puja is being organised in the presence of police. Students are participating in the festival with enthusiasm and there was no need for police surveillance,” an ABVP member and JU student said.
Registrar Salim Box Mondal said police had been called as directed by a court, but added that there was apparently no need for police presence for a popular festival like Saraswati Puja on campus.
At Dinhata College in Coochbehar district, police intervened to disperse two groups of students who exchanged blows near the idol on the college ground next to the campus, while in a school at Duttapukur in North 24 Parganas, Saraswati Puja was held outside the school premises due to restrictions imposed by authorities.
Across the state, students wearing traditional attires offered prayers to the goddess in schools, colleges, universities and homes.
Banerjee and Adhikari separately extended warm wishes to everyone on the auspicious occasion.
At Belur Math here, rituals were conducted with utmost reverence.
Bharat Sevashram Sangh’s headquarters in Kolkata also joined in the celebrations.
Numerous pandals across the state showcased creative themes, ranging from the SIR issue to environmental pollution.
Some organisers decorated their pandals in tricolour hues and placed a model of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in front to mark his birth anniversary. PTI SUS MNB
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