The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) attempted to scrap the Vishwakarma Puja holiday in municipal schools to extend the Eid-ul-Fitr break—a move that ignited a political firestorm and forced the West Bengal government into an embarrassing retreat. The backlash exposed yet another instance of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) administration’s systemic marginalisation of Hindu festivals in favour of minority appeasement.
The controversy erupted when KMC issued an official memorandum (Memo No. 025/KMC/Edn/2025, dated February 25, 2025), announcing the cancellation of the Vishwakarma Puja holiday—an occasion of immense cultural and religious significance for Hindus, particularly the OBC community. In its place, the holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr was extended from one to two days. The decision was widely seen as a calculated attempt to appease Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim vote bank ahead of the elections.
Holiday for Hindu festival scrapped to add one extra for Eid. This is what ecosystem must mean when it says it practices "Inclusive secularism". pic.twitter.com/cbdC33oY9V
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) February 26, 2025
BJP IT Cell Head Amit Malviya strongly condemned the move, calling West Bengal an “Islamic Caliphate under Mamata Banerjee” and stating, “Firhad Hakim, Mamata Banerjee’s close aide and a modern-day Suhrawardy, has ordered the scrapping of a holiday in Kolkata Municipal Corporation schools for Vishwakarma Puja—an occasion of great significance for Hindus, particularly the dominant OBCs—and instead allocated it for Eid-ul-Fitr.”
Welcome to Mamata Banerjee’s Islamic Caliphate of West Bengal.
Earlier, the Chief Minister unilaterally slashed reservations under the OBC sub-quota and arbitrarily included Muslims, denying OBCs their rightful dues. The Calcutta High Court has rightly struck it down, and the… pic.twitter.com/CBnkQPu2tw
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 26, 2025
Malviya further pointed out the larger pattern of TMC’s anti-OBC stance, stating, “Earlier, the Chief Minister unilaterally slashed reservations under the OBC sub-quota to arbitrarily include Muslims, thereby denying rightful benefits to actual OBC communities. The Calcutta High Court struck it down, and the case is now in the Supreme Court.”
The move triggered widespread outrage among political leaders, Hindu organisations, and citizens who saw it as yet another example of the TMC’s appeasement-driven governance. The uproar left the government scrambling for damage control, prompting KMC to hastily issue a corrigendum (Memo No. 026/KMC/Edn/2025, dated February 25, 2025), retracting the order and attributing the decision to a ‘procedural lapse’ and ‘typographical errors.’
In an official statement, KMC claimed, “The original memorandum was issued without obtaining concurrence from the competent authority. The matter has been taken seriously, and necessary action is being initiated against the officer responsible for this lapse.”
Observers noted that this was not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern of minority appeasement at the cost of Hindu interests. Malviya reinforced this view, stating, “This not only exposes Mamata Banerjee’s anti-OBC mindset but also confirms her nervousness. She knows the Muslim vote bank she once took for granted is slipping, even in Greater Kolkata.”
The BJP leader also highlighted how the decision hurt both Hindu and Muslim communities: “What Mamata Banerjee doesn’t understand is that Muslims don’t need endless holidays—they need education and employment. An additional day off means a loss of daily wages for Muslims, most of whom work as casual laborers in Bengal. It also deprives Hindus of their rightful observances.”
BJP leader Malviya said, “Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim appeasement is destroying West Bengal’s social fabric. If she continues in office, in a few years, it will be difficult to recognize whether our Bengal is still the land of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji, and Syama Prasad Mookerjee.”
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