Overview
- The Vishwa Hindu Parishad held a Salt Lake meeting on Wednesday and circulated guidelines urging Durga Puja committees in Kolkata to follow Sanatani scripture, preserve ritual timing from Pratipada, and avoid practices it says disrespect the goddess.
- The VHP asked organisers to bar non-vegetarian food from inside pandals while allowing meat stalls in designated areas outside, saying the aim is to keep the area around the deity clean.
- The group explicitly criticised recent themed pandals that use items such as shoes, torn clothes or broken glass and demanded idols conform to scriptural descriptions rather than experimental art.
- The VHP warned it could intervene if committees do not comply and offered special non‑monetary awards for priests and puja committees that adhere strictly to its norms.
- Media and puja forums are debating the move, with some organisers saying most committees already follow rituals and critics arguing the VHP misunderstands Bengal’s public, syncretic Puja that mixes worship, community art and popular food culture.