Bengal Cong lodges complaints against Bageshwar Baba over Durga Puja diktat

22:12 The West Bengal Congress on Tuesday lodged police complaints against Bageshwar Dham head priest Dhirendra Shastri over his Durga Puja diktat, asserting that it hurt religious sentiments of Bengalis and was intended to create disharmony. In the complaints submitted to the officers-in-charge of Bhawanipore and Nimtala police stations in Kolkata, the South Kolkata District Congress Committee and the North Kolkata District Congress Committee, respectively, alleged that Shastri made 'derogatory' comments during an event in Howrah on September 5. "We want to apprise you that immediate administrative action needs to be initiated, and an FIR needs to be registered with necessary arrests," South Kolkata District Congress Committee president Pradip Prasad said in the complaint. "Such remarks, if found to have been made as reported, are deeply hurtful to the sentiments of the Bengali people and are particularly objectionable when made in relation to Durga Puja, a festival that holds immense cultural, social and religious significance in West Bengal," North Kolkata District Congress Committee president Tarak Pal said in his complaint. The Congress alleged that the remarks could spark disharmony in society, and were against the democratic spirit. "Public figures making statements of this nature have a responsibility to maintain restraint and respect the cultural traditions and sentiments of the people of the state," Pal added. The self-styled godman, popularly known as Bageshwar Baba, had made an appeal to Bengalis to give up non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja festivities and described people who eat meat on religious occasions as 'hypocrites'. -- PTI