Kolkata Ganesh puja committees to shun fanfare amid protests against doctor’s rape-murder

KOLKATA, Aug 25: As protests against the brutal rape and murder of a woman doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital continue in Kolkata and other places across the state, Ganesh Puja committees have decided to shun all pomp during the celebration this year.
One such organiser said the theme of its pandal will be the battle against rape.
The 15-year-old Shree Shree Ganesh Chaturthi Mahotsab at B B Block in the satellite township of Salt Lake has cancelled all the decorative lights from Chandernagore, a Bengal town known for innovative patterns of illumination.
This puja is the oldest and biggest crowd-puller in the satellite township of Salt Lake, which is situated on the northeastern fringes of Kolkata.
There will be minimum lighting along the path of the pandal and red will be the predominant colour of lighting in the interiors, puja committee President Anindya Chatterjee said.
Ganesh Chaturthi falls on September 7 this year.
The pandal, near the PNB island, will entirely be covered by cutouts bearing the message ‘Dharsan Rukhe Din’ (resist rapes).
The cutouts will also say in smaller letters: “If we don’t wipe out the menace now, one of our dearest ones could be the next victim..
“The messages against every single incident of rape in the world, including the rape of children and men, will be put up like newspaper headlines in big and small fonts inside the entire pandal as well as on the outside walls,” Chatterjee said.
Members of the puja committee also want to voice their anguish and tell the parents of the RG Kar Hosapital’s victim that they are standing by them.
“Ours is an apolitical battle, like many others we are also demanding justice for her,” he said.
A spokesperson of the Bagbazar Sarbojonin Ganesh Puja committee in north Kolkata said they decided to cancel orders for giant light pillars planned to be set up on both sides of the pandal.
“We cannot stop the puja which we have been organising for 12 years as sentiments of local people are involved,” he said.
He said the puja committee will decide how to carry on the campaign against sexual abuse of women for a safer and secure environment.
In the wake of the brutal rape and murder of the young doctor, a section of protesters demanded that pujas be cancelled.
Mintu Pal, a veteran artisan in north Kolkata’s Kumartuli modellers’ hub, said till now there has been no cancellation in the booking of the 10-12 Ganesh idols chiselled in his studio.
All-women Durga Puja committee reject WB govt’s 85k dole
Two days after the Uttarpara Sakti Sangha in Hooghly district became the first to reject the Rs 85,000 annual festival grant given to all the community Durga Puja committees in the state by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government.
An all-women association in the same town on Saturday turned down the dole which has been raised from Rs 70,000 to Rs 85,000 this year.
As a mark of protest against the R.G. Kar incident, the office-bearers of Bouthan Sangha, an all-women Durga Puja committee in Uttarpara, on Saturday forwarded a communique to the district administration.
The committee in the letter conveyed their decision to reject the state government’s annual festival grant.
The organisers also coined the tagline — ‘Meyer Bichar Din, Mayer Pujo Nejera Bujhe Nebo’ (Give justice to the daughter, we will take care of Mother’s worship). (Agencies))