Saraswati Puja celebration disrupted; temple locked, devotees barred from worship by TMC members in West Bengal

Case ID : d32730f | Location : North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 22 January, 2026

Case ID : d32730f

North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India

22 January, 2026

Saraswati Puja celebration disrupted; temple locked, devotees barred from worship by TMC members in West Bengal

Attack on Hindu religious representations

Defiling religious customs

Case Summary

In Kamarhati city in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the Saraswati Puja celebration was disrupted by Trinamool Congress (TMC) party members. According to media reports, this incident occurred on Friday, 23 January 2026. Infighting within the ruling Trinamool Congress party led to the disruption of Saraswati Puja. The Belghadia Sarbajanin Sri Durga Chowk Society Mandir was locked up by one faction of the Trinamool Congress. As a result, local Hindu women were unable to worship Goddess Saraswati. The Trinamool Congress councillor had not been able to provide a resolution to this issue. Even the local police refused to intervene and remove the lock unless the warring Trinamool Congress factions found a common ground. A local Hindu woman narrated, “We want this temple to be a common place for worship. There will be only one lock, with two keys. One key will be in their possession while the other one will be with us.” Another Hindu woman stated, “This is not the property of an individual. It belongs to everyone.” Notably, Saraswati Puja, also known as Vasant Panchami, is one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals that honours Goddess Saraswati, the Hindu deity of knowledge, wisdom, music, arts, and learning. This festival, marking spring's arrival, symbolises renewal, intellectual growth, and new educational beginnings, with rituals like placing books and instruments before her idol for blessings. It holds deep cultural importance in India, especially for students and artists seeking success, often featuring the Aksharabhyasa rite to initiate children into learning.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack on Hindu religious representations. The subcategory selected is- Defiling religious customs. Sanatan Dharma is not a religion of one book, which is to say that while it has religious scriptures that form the central tenets of the faith, there are several traditions followed through thousands of years, mostly passed from generation to generation orally. There are several such customs and traditions that are followed by various Hindus and Hindu sects. Defiling of these traditions and customs is a breach of an individual or group’s religious practices. Such practices can range from dietary restrictions like not eating non-vegetarian food for a certain period of the year, not eating non-vegetarian food at all, not eating beef since the cow is considered holy in Hinduism, the sanctity of religious customs followed in the house (like many ISCKON devotees), etc. Any malicious action leading to the breach of such traditions or defilement of these traditions owing to animosity towards the faith or for the sake of activism stems not only from the lack of faith in the religion itself but also from disregard for the faith of the devotees who follow the customs/traditions and implicit bias against the faith, the tradition itself. Since these specific traditions are central to the faith of the devotees of that specific sect of Hindus, any non-compliance with these traditional rules would be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. This case constituted a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, as Trinamool Congress party members' internal disputes led to the disruption of Saraswati Puja, the forcible locking of the Belghadia Sarbajanin Sri Durga Chowk Society Mandir and barred devotees from celebrating their festival. Saraswati Puja is one among Hinduism's most revered festivals, dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the embodiment of knowledge, wisdom, music, arts, and learning. Devotees invoke her blessings through solemn rituals, prayers, and offerings in sacred temples and pandals, seeking intellectual growth, creative inspiration, and prosperity for their families, particularly children embarking on education. Any act disrupting this festival directly denies Hindus their right to worship, assaults the sanctity of the festival and its rituals, and inflicts profound emotional pain on the Hindu community, who cherish this auspicious occasion as a cornerstone of their faith. The act of locking the temple prevented local Hindu women from worshipping Goddess Saraswati, causing deep anguish and trauma to the entire community during one of their holiest celebrations. Mothers, daughters, and grandmothers stood helpless outside their sacred space, robbed of the spiritual solace and religious joy that Saraswati Puja provides. This deliberate obstruction of worship can be equated to a vicious attack on Hindu religious practice, humiliating devotees and shattering their devotional fervour. By weaponising a temple against worshippers, the perpetrators committed a calculated assault on Hindu sentiments, manifesting as a hate crime through the targeted denial of religious expression. Even though the incident stemmed from internal Trinamool Congress feuds, the deliberate choice to target a Saraswati Puja celebration raised important questions about institutional bias. Why did political rivals within the TMC select a sacred Hindu temple and festival as their battleground, rather than neutral venues? Why did the ruling party in West Bengal allow a revered religious event to become collateral damage in their power struggle? This selective targeting exposed the internal feud as a mere pretext for disrupting Hindu worship, revealing entrenched animosity against Hindu festivals. As the state's governing party, Trinamool Congress bore responsibility for this institutionalised prejudice, transforming political squabbling into religiously motivated hostility that demanded accountability. Even the local police denied Hindus any assistance by refusing to unlock the temple or intervene until the warring Trinamool Congress factions resolved their internal feud. This blatant partisanship revealed how West Bengal police operated under direct Trinamool Congress command, prioritising political loyalty over Hindu citizens' rights. Rather than delivering justice to the distraught devotees robbed of their Saraswati Puja celebrations, officers sided with the perpetrator faction, allowing sacred Hindu festivities to remain desecrated and deepening the community's anguish. Additionally, over the past several years, a disturbing pattern emerged in West Bengal where Hindus, their festivals, and their faith were targeted under Trinamool Congress rule. This targeting is institutionalised under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose government stood accused of deliberately shielding anti-Hindu elements while clamping down on Hindu rights. Increasing instances arose where the state actively suppressed Hindu religious expression. Hindus were arrested simply for chanting "Jai Shri Ram", a phrase vilified by the administration and the ruling party. Permission for Hindu processions, especially during festivals like Ram Navami or Hanuman Jayanti, was routinely denied on grounds of "law and order concerns", while Muslim religious gatherings faced no such hurdles. Moreover, over the years, the Mamata-led government issued numerous prejudicial directives, such as orders restricting Durga Puja immersions citing Muharram processions. Inaction followed anti-Hindu mob violence in areas like Dhulian, Islampur, Murshidabad and Kaliachak. Public endorsements and appeasement of radical Muslim clerics and Islamist leaders occurred, while concerns raised by Hindu groups were dismissed as "communal provocation". The systematic suppression of Hindu voices and faith, and criminalisation of Hindu identity expressions such as "Jai Shri Ram", reflected not just administrative failure but deeper ideological hostility towards the Hindu community. Altogether, this showcases that this attack, disrupting a Hindu festival, Saraswati Puja, and preventing Hindu devotees from worship, amounted to a clear instance of a religiously motivated offence. Therefore, this case was added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: In this case, though multiple Hindu devotees were targeted, preventing them from performing Saraswati Puja celebrations, only two Hindu women were specified in reports. Since the total number of victims remained unspecified, two victims were selected for the victim count, which has been recorded as 2.