After strife film, Durga Puja club to recreate para of ’40s with message of amity & harmony

Kolkata: Following the recent uproar over the content of a film on the Great Calcutta Killings, a south Kolkata puja pandal is set to spread the message of amity and harmony this year. The puja of Samaj Sebi Sangha at Lake View Road was born in 1946 with a mission to maintain peace and harmony, which was torn apart by communal riots that killed many people. The choice of communal harmony as a theme for the puja this year is relevant in the wake of the row over Vivek Agnihotri's ‘The Bengal Files', which portrays the tragic events revolving around the Great Calcutta Killings and the violence that reached other parts of Bengal. Last month, Kolkata Police stopped the trailer launch of ‘The Bengal Files', the final instalment of Agnihotri's ‘The Files Trilogy', and this sparked a controversy.About eight decades ago, the puja was initiated by eminent freedom fighters like Sarat Bose, Leela Ray, Anil Ray, Meghnad Saha, Jadunath Sarkar, and other social workers of the time during the communal riots. To unite people and restore peace, they formed the Samaj Sebi Sangha and started organising Durga Puja.The name Samaj Sebi Sangha was chosen by Leela Ray, a close associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and she came up with the idea of organising Durga Puja to bring together people of different faiths."The aspect of service or ‘seva' has been an integral part of their puja right from the beginning. Our club was formed when key personalities met at the house of Taradas Dutt to offer protection to the para at a critical juncture. In 1946, military camps were set up, and the local people came forward to rescue others and guarded the neighbourhood to pre-empt any untoward incident. The construction of several art deco style houses was underway at that time, and the workers were mostly Muslims. Our forefathers rescued them and sent them to camps to ensure their safety," said Arijit Maitra, general secretary of the puja. "Our puja began with the message of unity and harmony in turbulent times. In today's time, we feel the need to spread the same message to unite people," added Maitra, whose grandfather, Biren Maitra, co-founded Calcutta Chemical Company.The puja organisers are also planning to turn their para into a model street with artistic installations and illumination of the old houses. "We have had a word with KMC about the plan. We have demarcated Lake Road from the end diagonally opposite to Vivekananda Park till the crossing of Sarat Bose Road. Fifteen houses of our founder-members still exist. Most of them are in the art deco style, and they will be illuminated. We will recycle our artistic installations and have requested the civic body to restore the gardens in our neighbourhood," he said.