Kolkata: 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 told PTI. 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. "To my knowledge, around 10,000 Ganesh idols are being made in Kumartuli in different studios as the puja has become increasingly popular in the last few years," he said.
There had not been any major cancellations in the bookings in the wake of the spontaneous protests after the August 9 incident, he said. "We have also hit the streets in our demonstrations demanding justice for the R G Kar victim and a safe environment for every woman. But this should not be mixed with puja. Let there be no pomp and ostentation and we pray to Ganapati Bappa for the safety of everyone," he said.
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