Mass protests over Kolkata doctor's murder cast a shadow on the Durga puja festival
Organisers of many community Durga pujas in West Bengal are allegedly facing the heat for expressing views against the state administration.
As mass protests over the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital continue, organisers of many community Durga pujas in West Bengal are allegedly facing the heat for expressing views against the state administration.
Days before the state's biggest festival begins on October 9, organisers of several community pujas in Kolkata and in its neighbourhood said they were reconsidering their decision to refuse the government's festival grant of class='webrupee'>₹85,000 as a move in support of the agitation.
Some organisers have even removed symbols of protest from pandals, seemingly to placate authorities. The Beleghata Gandhi Math Friends Circle, a club in east Kolkata, had constructed a 40-feet replica of a human spine to symbolise the theme of “Father as the backbone of a family” but removed it on Saturday night.
A club member, who asked not to be named, said: “The spine was supposed to project the spirit of a father who holds his head high and protects his family. After it was completed, people started raising questions because the then-agitating junior doctors of RG Kar Hospital called former Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal spineless and gave him a miniature replica of a spine when they met him during the agitation. Goyal was subsequently transferred.”
"We decided the theme in January, months before the RG Kar Hospital incident, but removed the spine to avoid controversy," said Prasenjit Dey, cultural secretary of the club.
Funds raised from commercial advertisements and contributions by local citizens are often not sufficient to meet the expenditure on theme-based pandals, which are big draws for the public during the festivities. So, organisers who refused the state's grant are now in a dilemma.
In July, chief minister Mamata Banerjee increased the festival grant from ₹70,000 to ₹85,000 for each club and promised to give ₹1 lakh next year.
With around 40,000 community Durga pujas held across the state, including around 3,000 in Kolkata and its neighbourhood, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government is expected to spend at least ₹340 crore this year on funding Durga Puja organisers. This annual expenditure has been questioned by opposition parties in the past and cases have also been filed at the Calcutta high court to withdraw this allocation. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has justified her decision, especially after UNESCO added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021.
The clubs also enjoy exemption on all government fees and receive subsidies on electricity bills, the rate of which was increased from 66% to 75% this year.
"The state's grant is disabused from police stations. An officer from our local police station said if we refuse it then we have to forego the power subsidy, exemption from the fire department's licence fee as well as fees charged by the civic body. These add up to more than ₹1 lakh in our case," said a puja organiser in the Salt Lake township on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata who asked to remain anonymous.
"When junior doctors held a week-long agitation on the street outside the health department headquarters at Salt Lake earlier this month, residents expressed their solidarity by providing food, bio-toilets and essential items. Several local puja organisers decided not to take the state's grant this year to mark their protest. The administration is now indirectly pressuring Salt Lake residents to fall in line," said Manas Mukherjee, a Salt Lake resident and retired state government employee.
"Retired bureaucrats, college professors and government officials comprise the bulk of the Salt Lake population. The government has reasons to be wary," Mukherjee added.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official from the Salt Lake Police Commissionerate, denied the allegation. "Anybody may take or refuse the state's grant. No police official has been instructed to tell the organisers that the grant is linked to other subsidies,” the officer said.
The issue has triggered a political row with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing TMC of using pressure tactics to weaken the agitation.
Large rallies were held in Kolkata on September 29, and more have been planned on the occasion of Mahalaya on October 2, which marks the countdown to the festivities six days later.
"TMC wants to establish absolute control on Durga puja as well. It is using the police strategically for this purpose," West Bengal BJP's chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said. BJP leaders are pointing to a series of comments made by TMC leaders, intimidating people who have taken part in agitations.
On September 10, Banerjee told her cabinet colleagues that no minister should comment on the protests by junior doctors as she is in charge of the home and health departments. While ministers seemed to have followed Banerjee’s call, legislators and junior TMC leaders have targeted the agitation.
On September 11, Humayun Kabir, a TMC legislator from Murshidabad district, said that he could take 50,000 party workers to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital and end the agitation. Kabir repeated the warning on September 18, prompting the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association to lodge a police complaint against him.
"The police may send me to jail. Once I return, I will go to the hospital and make sure that doctors do their duty," an unperturbed Kabir said on Saturday.
In another incident, Nabyendu Mahali, chairman of the TMC-controlled Purulia municipality said at a public event on Saturday that folk artists getting monthly stipends from the state have no moral right to take part in the protests.
"As artists you cannot accept stipend from the government and take part in agitations against it. Do you have the moral right to do both?" Mahali said at the event attended by the district's famous Chhou dancers.
District TMC president Soumen Belthoria claimed Mahali expressed his personal opinion. "The chief minister treats all artists equally. What Mahali said is his personal opinion, not the party's," Belthoria said.
Calling the alleged pressure on puja organisers baseless," TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar alleged that BJP has come up with a ploy to mar the spirit of the festival.
"The allegations BJP is making are baseless. The TMC government always did its best to ensure that all sections of people enjoyed the festival. BJP planned something or the other every year to foil this but was rejected by the masses. The same will happen this year as well," Majumdar said.