The Secularisation of Durga Puja

 SINCE ALMOST everything governing social and cultural life has been politicised in a narrow, mindless way, I will not be surprised if my observations on the Durga Puja festivities of Kolkata are considered treacherous by the self-appointed custodians of Bengali existence—and they have proliferated in the past two decades. That, alas, is an occupational hazard of those who choose to make public their private thoughts. The risk is worth enduring.

I begin by repeating what my good friends and political gadfly Tathagata Roy wrote on social media a few days ago. He berated the present Bengali habit of sending out the equivalent of Season’s Greetings instead of the old-style Happy Durga Puja. Tathagatada has traced this distortion to the carefully crafted secularisation of Bengali social and religious life by the communists during their excruciatingly long 34-year rule in West Bengal. Initially, the comrades stayed away from the entire proceedings, their involvement limited to setting up bookstalls selling ‘progressive’ literature outside the bigger pandals. To be fair, the Left didn’t try to infiltrate the local Durga Puja committees and kept up the pretence of non-involvement in anything remotely religious. Neither Jyoti Basu nor his successor was seen inaugurating any Puja, big or small. However, the communists did try to underplay the religious aspect of Durga Puja. For them, what was acceptable were the festivities surrounding the homecoming and departure of Ma Durga.

Kolkata was always the bastion of the Trinamool Congress, even before the party won power in 2011. In spreading its influence and simultaneously creating an electoral machine, Trinamool adopted the model of its parent organisation, Congress. In Kolkata, Congress was always dependant on a few stalwarts such as Somen Mitra and Subrata Mukherjee (the political mentor of Mamata Banerjee). Their power, in turn, was centred on the huge Durga Puja or Kali Puja they organised. Mamata has made this her political model by ensuring that each and every Puja committee is controlled by her party. The pujas receive a subsidy, now amounting to more than a lakh of rupees each year, from the state. During elections, these committees become the Trinamool’s local organisation. In recent years, BJP has tried to emulate the Trinamool’s takeover of the Durga Puja, but apart from a solitary success in North Kolkata, the counter-offensive is yet to materialise.

Under Mamata Banerjee, the de-consecration of Durga Puja has acquired a momentum of its own. Pujas are being inaugurated by the chief minister before the auspicious Devi Paksha (beginning the day after Mahalaya) has begun, and the immersion of the deity is put off until a date deemed convenient. Meanwhile, the actual worship of Durga at many of these community pujas is subordinated to the so-called theme of the puja. These range from environmentalism and sustainability to a celebration of Operation Sindoor (this year’s big hit) and the Ram temple in Ayodhya. This year, the theme of a puja in South Kolkata was the ‘genocide’ in Gaza, a theme that prompts an ideological convergence between the communists and Trinamool, both anxious to draw the Muslim community into the Durga carnival.

The tradition of Durga worship, including the spectacular evening arati, not to mention the stylised dhunuchi naach by both men and women, has been kept alive by the Durga Pujas in private homes. The importance of worship is also maintained in the pujas organised by Bengali communities outside Bengal. In time, these will be the only celebrations of Durga Puja that will remind Bengalis that Durga Puja isn’t merely an occasion for gluttony and the display of questionable fashion, but also a time of worship.

The secularisation of Durga Puja has gone too far and degenerated into a week of buffoonery and bacchanalia, in Kolkata at least. Without being a killjoy, I personally believe that Durga Puja is in need of a big rescue operation. The committees must be depoliticised, the state subsidy of local pujas must be ended and Durga Puja’s status as a Hindu festival must be reaffirmed. There is, no doubt, an overriding importance of the festival economy but this can be compensated by a worthwhile government bringing back industry and a work culture to West Bengal.