Tribeni/Kolkata: A centuries-old ritual on the banks of the Hooghly river in West Bengal’s Tribeni has become the stage for a high-stakes political drama.
This February, the Tribeni Kumbh Mela – a Hindu pilgrimage that was suddenly sprung in 2022 by Hindutva groups – drew nearly seven lakh devotees over three days. But behind the sacred dips and synchronised chants, a quieter battle unfolded: one between chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, both vying to claim the festival as their own.
The Tribeni Kumbh’s origins are shrouded in politics. Hindutva groups, led by the Santan Samiti, launched the event in 2022 as a “revival” of a purported 700-year-old tradition – a claim swiftly amplified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Mann Ki Baat broadcast. Journalist Snigdhendu Bhattacharya’s investigation published in Article 14 debunked the propaganda. Historical records revealed the event’s “dormant” past was largely fabricated, propped up by rare academic citations.
Despite this, local TMC cadres aggressively promoted the Tribeni Kumbh from its inception, rebranding it as a sort of cultural renaissance. By 2024, the party’s senior leadership had fully co-opted the spectacle, leveraging state resources to legitimise what began as a Sangh Parivar project.
The Tribeni Kumbha in Bengal. Photo: Prasenjit Ghosh.
Earlier this month, Banerjee’s government actively promoted a ‘Kumbh Mela’ at two locations in West Bengal as an alternative for devotees unable to travel to Uttar Pradesh’s Maha Kumbh. The TMC also launched a high-visibility campaign across West Bengal to promote the Kumbh Snan or holy dip at these alternative locatons, blanketing the state with hoardings featuring the event.
“We are thankful to Didi [Mamata Banerjee]. With such massive crowds, getting train tickets for Prayagraj was impossible. Our local councillor informed us that this was the original Adi Kumbh of Tribeni, and Didi has made arrangements for the holy dip here. They helped us reach the site, and we were able to take part in the ritual. We even saw several Naga sadhus here!” said a devotee, Soma Sanyal, who lives in the north Bengal town of Siliguri. Sanyal was at Tribeni with her family.
Key leaders, including MP Rachana Banerjee, MLA Sabitri Mitra, and TMC’s Hooghly district president Tapan Dasgupta, occupied prime positions on the fair committee’s main stage, signalling the party’s strategic embrace of the religious gathering.
A placard with Mamata Banerjee’s face advertising an ‘alternative’ Kumbh in Bengal. Photo: Prasenjit Ghosh.
“We have the support of both the state and central governments. This year, the chief minister entrusted minister Becharam Manna with the task of overseeing the event’s infrastructure, security, lighting, and transportation, ensuring that everything went smoothly. We are grateful to the state government for their assistance,” said Kanchan Banerjee, one of the organisers of the Tribeni Kumbh Mela. Incidentally, Kanchan Banerjee is based in the US, was praised by Modi in a ‘Mann Ki Baat’ speech and took an active role in the Bengal BJP’s ‘NRIs for Shonar Bangla’ campaign ahead of the 2021 assembly election.
The fairgrounds were adorned with large banners featuring images of both Modi and Mamata Banerjee. Though posters prominently declared Mamata as the event’s chief inaugurator, she conspicuously avoided the event, instead dispatching a written message expressing her support and hopes for the gathering’s success. Officially, she cited “overcrowding concerns” – a rationale that she also used in skipping the Gangasagar Mela.
Santan Samiti’s vice-president Sarbananda Avadhut told The Wire, “In 2022, we initiated Kumbh here with Kartik Maharaj. This year, we invited the chief minister, but she withdrew to avoid controversy.”
The Kumbh Snan festivities were held at Saptarshi Ghat from February 11 to 13, commencing with Bhoomi Pujan (ground sanctification), Ganga Aarti (river worship), and a series of traditional rituals. Police sources confirmed a historic surge of nearly 7 lakh devotees at Tribeni’s Kumbh Mela in the first three days, with two lakh pilgrims thronging the site for the holy dip on February 12 alone. The state’s active logistical support – funding infrastructure, security, and transportation – has lent legitimacy to the VHP’s efforts to integrate the regional ritual into a pan-Indian Hindu narrative.
“The Sangh arranged buses to bring us here. We took a holy dip and offered prayers before heading back. It is not possible for us to travel to Prayagraj, so this was a great opportunity,” said Seema Haldar from the South 24 Parganas.
A placard with Narendra Modi’s face on it, advertising the Tribeni Kumbha in Bengal. Photo: Prasenjit Ghosh.
This is not an isolated event but a window into the TMC supremo’s broader strategy to counter the BJP’s Hindutva push. In January, Banerjee announced Rs 1,500 crores of infrastructure development projects for Gangasagar, a Hindu pilgrimage site, accusing the Union government of neglecting Bengal’s “spiritual heritage.” The Gangasagar Mela, an annual congregation held at the confluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal on Sagar Island, has been used as a flagship event for the Banerjee government, aligning with her “Bengal Pride” narrative.
Since coming to power in 2011, TMC has focused on identity-driven cultural mobilisation, amplifying traditions like Durga Puja and other religious festivals as tools for political outreach. Unlike the earlier Left government’s secular, hands-off approach and administrative-only support for events like Gangasagar Mela – the TMC government actively promotes and funds religious festivals.
“For the Left front government, the idea was to separate state and political affairs from the religion. Except for a few like the late Subhash Chakrabarti, all the Left leaders focused on other cultural expressions like the book fair, and the film festival, and worked in the literary and artistic spheres. However, they ignored this key primordial cultural apparatus, while the TMC has attempted to work on this avenue of identity politics,” observed anthropologist and author Suman Nath.
The state government is investing Rs 250 crore from the state exchequer to build a replica of Odisha’s iconic Jagannath Temple at the seaside town of Digha. A self-declared devotee of the deity Jagannath, Banerjee has actively courted Hindu symbolism – hosting rituals led by Puri’s priests and forming a 13-member temple trust with representatives from ISKCON.
Mamata Banerjee with the under-construction temple at Digha. Photo: By arrangement.
Inspired by the grand rituals in Varanasi, Banerjee’s government has introduced ‘Ganga Arati’, a spiritual and cultural spectacle along the Hooghly river where priests perform synchronised chants, light lamps, and offer prayers to the Ganga. She has progressively increased financial assistance to Durga Puja committees over the years. Starting with Rs 10,000 in 2018, the grant has now risen to Rs 85,000 per committee in 2024, benefiting over 43,000 organisers and amounting to an expenditure of more than Rs 365 crore.
Each year, during her family’s Kali Puja festivities – the rituals of which are deeply woven into Bengali identity – Banerjee personally prepares the bhog (food offerings), observes a ritual fast, and shares glimpses of the celebration on social media, reaffirming her Hindu identity. She also takes an active role in Durga Puja, composing and writing songs for the deity Durga and performing Chokkhu Daan (painting the idol’s eyes), symbolising her connection to Bengali religious and cultural heritage.
Last month, Banerjee invoked her Brahmin heritage during a heated debate on the floor of the state assembly to counter allegations of “minority appeasement” levelled on by her political rival Subhendu Adhikari – a former confidante turned bitter adversary. Known for her fiercely secular and minority-inclusive approach, Banerjee, for the past few years, has frequently used Chandi Path (the recitation of verses from the Chandi, a Hindu scripture dedicated to Durga) as a political tool to assert that she was a practicing Hindu.
The RSS, while opposed politically to the TMC, acknowledged her efforts. Spokesperson Biplab Roy admitted, “She does many good things. We won’t dismiss her role.”
These efforts come across as a calibrated attempt to recapture Hindu support ahead of Bengal’s 2026 assembly polls, countering the BJP’s religious-nationalist messaging in a key electoral battleground.
“From the very beginning, the TMC has actively patronised and leveraged local cultural and religious traditions for identity-based mobilisation,” observed Suman Nath.
Critics question the use of public funds for religious projects, arguing that it blurs the line between governance and faith. While Mamata’s dual strategy – coupling Hindu-centric projects with populist welfare schemes – has allowed her to retain secular credibility while courting the Hindu majority, fissures are emerging.
Ganga Arati at the Tribeni Kumbha in Bengal. Photo: Prasenjit Ghosh.
“Bengal’s rulers are driven by malicious intent. They believe their main goal is winning over a section of voters by playing the religion card, so they’ve joined the game. Earlier, they exploited Muslim sentiments; now, they’re targeting Hindu votes. They’re creating a dangerous communal climate here, mirroring the rest of the country,” said academic Miratun Nahar, who once supported the TMC during its rise to power.
Though Banerjee’s core base, including women and the state’s 30% minority population, rallied behind her in the 2021 and 2024 elections, a growing segment of minority voters now voice disillusionment, accusing her of instrumentalising identity politics for electoral gains.
“Both the ruling parties at the centre and the state want votes to be cast along religious lines. If temples are built using public funds, people from other communities would also expect the government to construct their religious sites. It’s disheartening that the state’s ruling party, which secured minority votes by stoking fear of the BJP, is pursuing the same divisive tactics,” said Indian Secular Front MLA Nawsad Siddique.
Whether this shift fortifies her against the BJP or erodes her secular credentials remains uncertain, but one thing is clear – in Bengal’s no-holds-barred political arena, Mamata Banerjee is rewriting the battle rules.
Joydeep Sarkar’s contributions in the Bengali original were translated by Aparna Bhattacharya.
