CM announces Rs 1,000cr plan for religious tourism in Bengal
Times of India | 15 July 2026
Kolkata: Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday said that the state govt will practise ‘Lok Dharma’ and put an end to appeasement politics. He said that unlike the earlier govt, the state will develop the religious tourism sector.
“The earlier govt was biased and followed appeasement politics. They turned a blind eye to a community. The feudal system is gone for long. We have to perform Lok dharma and keep both the eyes open,” Adhikari said. “The earlier govt was busy in appeasement and these areas remained underdeveloped,” he said.
Present at the Shrabani Mela at Tarakeswar — a massive month-long event where lakhs of devotees gather to offer water to Shiva— Adhikari said that the earlier govt deputed a “handful of civic volunteers” while lakhs of people gather here every year. “The job of the civic volunteers was to maintain traffic. Tarakeswar dham was neglected for years. But we will beautify the area as it happened in Kashi Viswanath, Ujjayini Mahakal, Kedar and Badrinath dham,” he said.
Claiming that he was encouraged by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Adhikari said that state transport department will deploy a helicopter every Monday to shower flowers on the devotees during the Shrabani Mela. “We have already announced the development of tirtha khetra (pilgrimage) circuit. It will connect Kiriteswari temple in Murshidabad, Madan Mohan temple in Coochbehar, Jalpesh temple in Jalpaiguri and Tarapith in Birbhum. Rs 1,000 crore has already been sanctioned for that,” he said.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, who was present in Nadia to attend a number of programmes said that the state govt will not differentiate between the people from different communities. “You may vote for us or may not, but this govt will not see that while delivering services,” he said.