With Muharram falling a day after the end of four-day long Durga Puja on 1 October, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that idol immersion will not be allowed after 6 pm on 30 September.

This year Durga Puja & Muharram fall on the same day. Except for a 24 hour period on the day of Muharram… 1/2

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 23, 2017

The immersion would resume on 2 October and continue till 4 October, Mamata wrote on Twitter.

“Some people will try to create trouble on Hindu-Muslim grounds. Every religion is ours. But if there is a problem while a procession is passing a puja pandal, we will all be affect,” quoted Banerjee as saying.

BJP immediately reacted to the announcement saying that they will challenge the decision in the court, and accused Mamata of “minority appeasement”.

“Last year, she had given similar orders which were challenge in the high court, which had pulled up the state government for giving such arbitrary orders aimed at appeasing the minorities. However, the high court order had come after the festival. We will challenge her decision in the court of law,”  quoted BJP’s national secretary Rahul Sinha.

“The Mamata Banerjee government is appeasing the minorities by putting restrictions on Hindu celebrations. Hindus here cannot take out Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti processions. Now she has put a restriction on idol immersion. We oppose such a decision,” he added.

West Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh

BJP’s West Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh equated the chief minister’s decision with Talibani rule.
“Is West Bengal gradually heading towards Talibani rule? Saraswati Pujas  stop at schools, Durga puja immersion being repeatedly barred, the attempt to introduce Urdu-Arabic words in Bengali language (abba, amma, aasmani) …all this is proof of that. After this we will have to start calling ‘didimoni’ (Mamata Banerjee) by the (Urdu) term (for sister), ‘apa’. How long will the people of Bengal tolerate all this?,” he wrote on Facebook.