Overview

• RR Sporting Club in Ranchi altered its Vatican-themed pandal after VHP and BJP objections, removing crosses and replacing Christian imagery with Hindu deities, as VHP’s Vinod Bansal called for a probe into funding and intent.
• At Kolkata’s Santosh Mitra Square ‘Operation Sindoor’ pandal, organiser and BJP leader Sajal Ghosh alleged police barricades were blocking visitors and threatened early immersion, a claim police commissioner Manoj Verma denied; later, BJP’s Amit Malviya accused the state of obstructing the light-and-sound show.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Santosh Mitra Square pandal on September 26 and used the occasion to express hopes for a new government in West Bengal after the 2026 assembly polls.
• Kajol and Rani Mukerji unveiled the idol at Mumbai’s North Bombay Sarbojanin Durga Puja, sharing an emotional moment as the family marked its first Puja after the death of Ayan Mukerji’s father, Deb Mukherjee.
• A Berhampore committee drew attention with a clay model likening President Donald Trump to Mahishasura as a symbolic protest over tariffs, though the clay modeller said the resemblance was coincidental.