Theme, budget not yet finalized, Kolkata’s marquee Durga Pujas in deep trouble

Kolkata: With a little over four months to go for the state’s biggest festival, uncertainty hangs over several of Kolkata’s prominent Durga Pujas as a number of Trinamool functionaries, including MLAs, MPs and councillors at the helm of these pujas, find themselves under investigation, behind bars or absconding.

While organisers insist the pujas will remain unaffected, many acknowledge that crucial decisions on theme, funding, sponsorship, planning and scale remain pending. In several cases, the functionaries were not merely patrons but the principal organisers, fundraisers and public face of the events. Their absence has left committees scrambling to chart a way forward.

At New Alipore Suruchi Sangha, the members are in disarray after the rapid developments over the past few days. With an FIR against chief patron and former minister Aroop Biswas and his brother Swarup, the club secretary, in police custody, the functionaries say the puja is the last thing on their mind. Vandalism at the club on Friday evening has added to the uncertainty. “We are in a quandary over the fate of the puja,” said club president Kingshuk Maitra.

At Sreebhumi Sporting Club, members are similarly distraught after the ED arrested club president and former minister Sujit Bose. “We are yet to decide on the puja. In all likelihood, it will be a pale shadow of what the puja was till last year,” said Dibyendu Goswami, who was the club secretary till last year.

At Chetla Agrani, the puja associated with Firhad Hakim, who stepped down as mayor on Friday, a meeting is scheduled on Wednesday to finalise this year’s plans. “Usually, the meeting should have been held a month and a half ago. But given the turmoil, it was postponed. We do not wish to scale down the puja as it is also a major fundraiser that sustains our sporting activities: swimming, football and volleyball,” said club functionary Sabyasachi Chowdhury.

At Tridhara Sammilani Club in Manoharpukur, led by former KMC member mayor-in-council Debashis Kumar, who has also been questioned by the ED, members say they are confident of delivering a puja that will draw crowds. “We are waiting for the govt guidelines before planning. The khunti puja should happen as usual on the day of Ulta Rath,” said Subhojit Chakraborty, the club’s cultural convenor.

Elsewhere, Rajdanga Naba Uday Sangha has already decided to scale back this year’s festivities after the club president absconded following an FIR. “There will, of course, be Durga Puja this year too, but not at the scale of previous years because we do not have enough time,” said long-time member Nirmal Mukherjee.

A member of the Forum for Durgotsav, the umbrella body representing around 500 Durga Pujas, said the festival may experience a minor bump this year, with some big draws taking a hit, but will bounce back next year. “Look at Naktala Udayan Sangha, which shrank in 2022 after its patron and president Partha Chatterjee was arrested. In the past two years, the club has revived the puja to its former scale, while disassociating itself from political patronage,” he argued.