The Sonajhuri forest in Santiniketan on Friday witnessed a subdued celebration of Basanta Utsav apparently because of a campaign to ban playing with colours in the greenery.

A source said although the Bengal government had clarified at the last minute that there was no ban on the Basanta Utsav celebration in the popular tourist destination, the footfall at Sonajhuri and the entire varsity town was about half of what it was last year.

“The footfall in Santiniketan on the occasion of Holi dropped to nearly half of last year’s figure. If four lakh people visited the varsity town last year, the number may not exceed two lakh this time,” said a senior police officer in Santiniketan.

The primary reason for the low footfall appeared to be the campaign to ban the use of colours in the festival.

“There were tourists in hotels and resorts, but many visitors who typically came from Calcutta and nearby districts, includings part of Birbhum, on this particular day seemed to have shifted their destination to Purulia or Bankura,” said a source in Birbhum police.

The forest department had last week put up banners prohibiting playing with colours, videography and other practices in the Sonajhuri forest. Senior foresters claimed there would be a ban on Basanta Utsav as the Act does not permit such celebrations in the restricted greenery.

The BJP promptly gave it a political spin, claiming the state government imposed the ban to appease a minority community since the event coincided with Ramzan.

In response to the BJP’s narrative, the forest department quickly reversed its decision. Forest minister Birbaha Hansda announced that there would be no ban on playing with colours in Sonajhuri.

“Although Basanta Utsav is a unique event of Visva-Bharati, the main attraction for visitors has become the Sonajhuri forest. Since Visva-Bharati closed its doors to outsiders in 2020, the celebration of colours in line with Rabindranath Tagore’s ideology shifted to that patch of forest adjacent to the campus,” said a senior varsity teacher.

“So, the campaign against playing with colours may have contributed to the reduced footfall,” he added.

Last year, the local Trinamool Congress leadership organised a mega event in line with Visva-Bharati’s tradition, drawing a large crowd. However, no such event was organised this year.

TMC leaders, however, denied a drop in attendance and claimed any perceived decline was because of the decentralisation of celebrations.

“Some people on social media falsely accused the state government of banning celebrations in Santiniketan or Sonajhuri. Unlike last year, a mega event was not organised in Sonajhuri, but numerous programmes took place in various parts of Bolpur and Santiniketan,” said minister and Bolpur MLA Chandranath Sinha.

“The people of Bengal turned out in large numbers and foiled the conspiracy of those trying to malign our culture with false claims,” he added.

Rituparna Talukdar, a visitor from Calcutta, said she was upset after hearing about the alleged ban on Basanta Utsav celebrations in the Sonajhuri forest.

“It was an immense joy when we realised no one was stopping us from entering the Sonajhuri forest,” she said.

The police, however, imposed a ban on car entry into Sonajhuri.

Multiple sources pointed to two other major reasons behind the reduced footfall in Santiniketan during Holi.

“First, it was the month of Ramadan, so members of the Muslim community who used to participate in the celebrations were less this year. Second, the ongoing higher secondary exams also contributed to the lower turnout,” a senior official explained.