Visva Bharati University students apply colours on each other during the Basant Utsav celebration, at Gour premises, Santiniketan, in Birbhum.
| Photo Credit: ANI
West Bengal’s Minister of State for Forests Birbaha Hansda on Thursday (March 13, 2025) said there was no ban on Holi festivities in Sonajhuri Haat of Santiniketan in Birbhum district after a political row erupted over banners prohibiting visitors from playing with colours in the forest land.
Banners placed in and around the Khoai Sonajhuri forest area featuring the West Bengal government logo mention that playing with colours, filming videos or parking vehicles in the reserved forest are ‘prohibited’.
Ms. Hansda said the restrictions did not amount to a ban but were instead an ‘appeal’ to tourists and citizens to be careful of the impact of Holi festivities on the forest environment.
“[News of the ban] is a lie. We have not issued any such notice from the Forest department. We want the forest to stay unharmed, so we have simply made a request to visitors to curtail festivities for the sake of the environment. We have not imposed any ban,” Ms. Hansda said.
She said anyone who wished to play Holi in the Sonajhuri area could do so.
Her remarks follow allegations made by Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday that restrictions on Holi festivities were part of the Mamata Banerjee government’s “divisive politics and politics of appeasement”.
“In 2025, for the first time, there have been meetings in every police station for Holi, to discuss the issue of the ongoing holy month of a different community. This time, Holi is on a Friday… The Additional Superintendent of Police at Birbhum said all Holi festivities have to be wrapped up by 10 p.m. this time because it is a Friday. This is the first time it has happened in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee’s police administration is engaging in divisive and appeasement politics,” Mr. Adhikari said.
Responding to Mr. Adhikari’s statements, the Forest Minister said, “Whatever the Forest department does is with the objective of conserving nature. The BJP has nothing else to talk about, so they add political colour to everything.”
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress in an official statement on Thursday accused the BJP of spreading misleading propaganda and falsely claiming that the Bengal government banned Holi celebrations.
Santiniketan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is popular among tourists, particularly at this time of the year for the uniquely cultural ‘Basanta Utsav’ (springtime festival) celebrated there during Holi. Sonajhuri is a forest area in the Khoai region of Santiniketan, most famous for its natural beauty and a weekly market by local artisans.
Published – March 13, 2025 06:50 pm IST
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