Bengal–A Religious Disneyland

Reassessing Political Economy

By Sourav Goswami

Many view the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections as a triumph against India’s drift towards authoritarianism, especially since Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) successfully repelled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, this electoral success obscures a concerning trend: the ruling TMC is increasingly showcasing a public manifestation of religion, disguised as secular governance. While the BJP’s communal agenda is explicit, the TMC engages in a more subtle, yet equally damaging, form of religious conservatism. Under the pretence of cultural preservation and tourism, the West Bengal government is investing heavily in the construction and support of religious sites. A notable instance is the Rs 250 crore Jagannath temple in Digha, wholly funded by taxpayers and overseen by state departments. The TMC, not satisfied with its historical ties to Durga Puja, Kali, and Lakshmi, is now adopting religious celebrations such as Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, and Ganga Arati to express its religious enthusiasm and compete with the BJP. 

Bengal is becoming a “religious Disneyland,” where culture is superficial, history is replicated, and faith is a mere performance. The Digha Jagannath temple is a political act, mimicking the BJP’s style of Ram Mandir while claiming to oppose its ideology. It’s a copy, much like the proposed replicas of Big Ben and Christ the Redeemer. Bengal’s governance is driven by this aesthetic of simulation, where appearance trumps substance and policy blurs with propaganda. This distortion of secular governance hasn’t gone unnoticed. Many citizens are expressing concern. “The neighbourhood is overwhelmed by new temples and ‘imported’ deities, with religious chants overshadowing discussions about jobs, highlighting economic distress,” says Professor Imankalyan Lahiri. “The government’s claim of boosting the economy through tourism is vague. If they were serious, they would have invested in modernising the Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, but they haven’t,” he added. This highlights that the Rs 250 crore spent on the Jagannath temple could have addressed critical needs, such as providing internet access in public schools, addressing underfunded hospitals, and supporting declining universities. Another critic points out that the temple’s cost could have funded at least 50,000 new computers for public schools, emphasising the government’s misaligned priorities.

The tragedy lies not only in the misuse of public funds but in the normalisation of clericalism by liberal elites who defend the TMC’s religious patronage to counter the BJP. Criticism often faces accusations of supporting the Right, silencing dissent and undermining secularism. Bengal’s civil society has come to accept Mamata Banerjee’s “sarkari religion.” Unlike the TMC, the BJP hasn’t directly funded temples with state money. This religious spectacle serves as a political strategy, compensating for a lack of industrial plans and using religion to stimulate the economy. Durga Puja has become crucial for the informal sector in a state with little stable employment, supporting the unorganised working class. The government extends the religious calendar not just from piety, but to sustain a fragile social contract that distracts from material deprivation with economic rhetoric centred on religion. According to NSSO and PLFS data, West Bengal’s reported unemployment rate stands at a mere 3.1%, with a rural rate of 2.0% and an urban rate of 5.4%. However, these figures may be misleading due to the dominance of informal and low-quality employment. According to the 2023-24 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), a staggering 59.1% of workers in the state are self-employed, predominantly in precarious roles ranging from Chop Shilpo to crime syndicates. This reliance on underemployment–a state where individuals are engaged in irregular and low-paying work–reflects a broader economic distress rather than entrepreneurial growth. Moreover, anecdotal evidence and reports from credible sources suggest that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has entrenched itself in local informal markets through syndicates, engaging in practices such as extortion and ‘cut-money politics’ in various sectors. These dynamics not only inflate self-employment figures but also hinder genuine entrepreneurship by relegating many to economically tethered roles. This patronage-driven model effectively decreases economic dynamism and perpetuates dependency on informal networks. Compounding this issue is the stagnation in real wages and consumption. While inflation, particularly in food prices, continues to rise, per capita consumption expenditure in West Bengal remains below the national average. Consequently, the apparent low unemployment rate conceals a significant portion of the working-age population that is either discouraged or disengaged from job-seeking, particularly women, who face cultural and economic barriers to participation. Thus, the glamour of low unemployment masks a troubling reality–underutilised labour and economic vulnerability persist beneath the surface of reported statistics.

The political landscape in Bengal raises urgent concerns about a shift towards “kleptocratic kitsch,” where displays of spiritual generosity disguise the misappropriation of state funds for personal gain. Public projects often serve as vehicles for political rent-seeking, enriching those in power under the guise of community benefit. Both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manipulate public beliefs for political advantage, turning citizens into devoted supporters while neglecting rational discourse and civil rights. Judicial inaction on government spending for temples highlights a troubling disregard for secularism. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s plan to introduce Varanasi-style Ganga Arati in Kolkata reflects a strategy to connect with voters amid governance failures. With only 17.5% of schools having internet connectivity, and significant issues in universities and municipal funds, faith is becoming a substitute for hope. When the government endorses religion, it loses impartiality and risks undermining both secularism and democracy. Voting against the BJP by supporting the TMC is insufficient; opposing clerico-authoritarianism requires a renewed commitment to secularism, justice, and democratic rights. Progressive politics must avoid electoral shortcuts and present a vision of modernity that embraces genuine governance free from imitation and extremism. Otherwise, if Bengal becomes a “Las Vegas of religion,” there will be no genuine triumph, just an ongoing cycle of empty rituals performed by governments eager to distract from their failures.

References

• Bhargava, R. (1998). Secularism and Its Critics. Oxford University Press.

• Harriss-White, B. (2003). India Working: Essays on Society and Economy. Cambridge University Press.

• Jaffrelot, C. (2007). Hindu Nationalism: A Reader. Princeton University Press.

• Bhattacharyya, D. (2016). Government as Practice: Democratic Left in a Transforming India. Cambridge University Press.

• Bhowmick, S. (2025). “What Bengal could have done with the Rs 250 crore it will spend on Digha’s Jagannath temple.” The Telegraph.

• Gera, I. (2025). “Over 80% of schools in Bihar and West Bengal don’t have access to the internet.” Money Control.

• National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. Government Of India (July 2023-June 2024).

• Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period between July 2023 and June 2024.

• Chop Shilpo is a rapidly growing informal industry that has emerged across West Bengal, specifically in snack stalls. The crime syndicate is involved in the illegal production of guns, bombs, and drugs, and operates gambling cartels across rural West Bengal. As a political journalist, I have experienced this for the past seven years while travelling across the state.