Last week, Adhikari offered a grand welcome to Dhirendra Shastri, known as ‘Bageshwar Dham Baba’, who was in the state to hold his religious programmes. At one such programme in Howrah, Shastri appealed to people of the state to avoid consuming non-veg food near puja pandals during Navaratri.
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His appeal met with resistance from opposition parties, including Congress. Congress workers held protests in different parts of the state, where they also tried to burn the effigy of Dhirendra Shastri. Chief Minister Adhikari, during the Assembly session, strongly criticised those protesting against Shastri and even called for their arrests.
However, as the protest and dissent over freedom of food choices grew in the state, Adhikari was on the back foot. Several BJP leaders, including state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, went on to say that food choices are purely a matter for the people of West Bengal and that no outsider can give them instructions on what to eat and what not to.
