Bengal Congress filed a police complaint against Bageshwar Baba over Durga Puja meat dictation

Bageshwar Dham Sarkar Acharya Dhirendra Krishna Shastri. File | Photo credit: ANI

West Bengal Congress leaders filed a police complaint against Bageshwar Dham chief priest Dhirendra Shastri in Kolkata on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) over his recent remarks asking people in the state to avoid eating non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja celebrations.

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These comments sparked a major political row in West Bengal, with the Congress accusing him of hurting Bengali sentiments and insulting the state’s culture and traditions.

“Those who speak this language and belong to our state are all Bengali or Bangali as there is no such division. He uttered vile sentences and preached what to eat and what not to eat during Durga Puja in our state, which is a prestigious festival and puja,” said a police complaint filed at Bhawanipur police station. The Congress also protested against the language used by Mr. Shastri, which it said was derogatory and offensive to Bengali culture.

The complaint was filed by Pradip Prasad, president of the South Kolkata District Congress Committee. Congress workers also staged a protest outside the police station and demanded that an FIR be registered against Mr. Shastri based on the complaint.

Similar complaints were lodged by other Congress leaders at the Muchipara police station in North Kolkata. According to party leaders, the party has lodged several complaints against Mr. Shastri in all the districts of West Bengal.

“Who wants fish and meat shops closed in Bengal during Durga Puja? Those who support it, turn on your phone lights. Let this call reach the people of the state government. I am offended by the fact that during Navratri and Durga Puja, they produce ‘dirty’ food (non-veg) outside pandals,” Mr. Shastri said at an event in Howrah a few days ago. He said that people who eat such food are not religious, and described them as pakhandis (hypocrites).

“Bengali culture, lifestyle, food habits or religious practices or who we believe in or pray to cannot be dictated by a godman like him,” senior Congress leader Suman Roy Chaudhuri told The Hindu on Tuesday (September 8).

Mr. Roy Chaudhuri also claimed that such godfathers are “like sleeper cells of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh” who travel to different parts of the country to provoke people and impose what he described as North Indian culture.

Even as the State BJP leadership tried to downplay the controversy, the Opposition stepped up its attack on Mr. Shastri and the BJP over his remarks.

Published – 08 Sep 2026 16:41 IST