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| - While speaking at a rally in West Bengal's Serampore to seek support for his party in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted the state government.
The Home Minister claimed that the Mamata Banerjee-led state government does not provide holidays during the festival of Durga Puja.
At around the 18:14 timestamp, Shah could be heard saying, "She [Mamata Banerjee] opposes the Ram Mandir. She does not give permission for Durga i immersion and gives holidays to Muslim workers on Ramzan. Mamata didi, we don't have a problem with that, give holidays. But we want an answer as to why you don't grant holidays during our Durga Puja. Why this discrimination?"
Is this claim true?: No, these claims are false. As per the holiday list shared on the state government's website, several holidays are provided during the Durga Puja festival.
Holiday list of 2024: We performed a keyword search using the words "west bengal holiday list" on Google.
The search led us to a compiled list for this year shared on the official website of West Bengal government's Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department.
As per the official notification, there were three types of holiday lists — public holidays under the Negotiable Instrument Act, holidays under the state government, and sectional holidays.
The list below under the NI Act shows multiple holidays being given during Durga Puja in 2024.
The second list, which grants holidays under the order of State government, also showed several holidays being provided during the Durga Puja festival.
The notification also said that all the offices under the state government with the exception of the offices of the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata and Collector of the Stamp Revenue, Kolkata will be closed on the days specified in the second list.
About Durga Puja permission claims: According to an NDTV report, the West Bengal government had banned Durga Puja processions from carrying out immersions in 2017, reportedly on the advice of the police.
The announcement was made because Banerjee reportedly did not want any communal clash during the celebrations.
These restrictions were then cancelled by the high court in West Bengal.
The government had then decided that people would need to take police permission for immersion on the day of Muharram.
Team WebQoof has reached out to Shah's office to seek further clarification about his statements and to find out the source of his information. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
Conclusion: It is clear that Home Minister Amit Shah's statements about West Bengal government not giving holidays during Durga Puja are false.
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