Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Navami, Tuesday, travelled across four Bengal districts to meet the families of six victims of the Chorebagan pandal stampede in north Calcutta and give them financial compensation.
Nineteen people died in the stampede at Chorebagan Sarbajanin Durgotsav Samiti on October 17 evening.
Suvendu first visited the homes of two victims, Sandip Bej and Tagor Bej, at Madhabdihi village in East Burdwan. He then visited the homes of victim Piyali Pramanik in Arambagh in Hooghly; Arati Sarkar in Nadia's Chakdah; Sreeparna Poddar in Hooghly's Baidyabati; and Akriti Kumar in Howrah's Bally.
"Do you remember any instance of a chief minister going to visit people like this?" Suvendu asked the media in East Burdwan.
"I can't bring back those who have died, but I have to fulfil my responsibility towards the families. It is part of my duty. Just because someone else did not do it does not mean I should not do it," Suvendu said, in an apparent reference to his predecessor Mamata Banerjee.
The stampede deaths during Durga Puja are being described as unprecedented in decades. Amid flak over alleged mismanagement, the Suvendu government announced financial compensation of ₹25 lakh for the next of kin of each victim. On Tuesday, the chief minister also highlighted his government's prompt decision to set up an inquiry committee to identify those responsible and initiate action over the stampede deaths.
Speaking in Hooghly, three hours after his earlier remarks, Suvendu sought to underline the contrast between his government and that of his predecessor.
"Have you ever heard of a government paying compensation of ₹25 lakh?" he asked in Hooghly.
"In 2025, too, two incidents occurred during the Durga Puja festivities. In one incident in Calcutta (before Puja), 13 people died of electrocution, but the dandiya dance celebrations (by Mamata) continued. On the eve of Lakshmi Puja, more than 100 people were swept away by flash floods in Nagrakata. Yet the (Durga Puja) carnival went ahead. People can see the difference between the previous government and the present," he claimed.
A source said that following the Chorbagan stampede, the embarrassed BJP and the state government have become particularly cautious about ensuring neither the party nor the administration was seen celebrating. Union home minister Amit Shah, who reached Bengal on the day of the incident, cancelled all his scheduled visits to Puja pandals. Suvendu postponed his Puja-related engagements and focused instead on reaching out to the victims' families.
Of the 19 persons who died, 18 were from Bengal and one was from Bihar.
"Today is Navami.... Instead of participating in the celebrations, I have been going from house to house since morning. By October 24, I will have completed visits to all 18 families," Suvendu said.
Alleging mismanagement, police failure and attempts by BJP leaders to take control of Puja committees, Opposition leaders said the chief minister was reaching out to the victims' families to contain the political damage. On Tuesday, Suvendu criticised the Opposition, saying those attacking the government had neither visited the hospitals to meet the injured nor met the bereaved.
Suvendu said that in the past, bereaved families had been forced to approach the courts seeking judicial inquiry or a CBI probe, but now they would not need to. "There have been more than a hundred cases where victims' families had to approach the high court or the Supreme Court to demand a judicial inquiry or a CBI investigation. We are taking the initiative ourselves to have the inquiry conducted by a sitting judge or a person nominated by the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court," he added.
CPM veteran Sujan Chakraborty said: "People have understood that the incident in Chorebagan took place because of the government's failure and the BJP leaders' desperate attempts to take control of Puja committees. So, the chief minister has been desperately trying to woo the victims' families."