West Bengal government’s Durga Puja carnival faces protest heat

Devotees carry an idol of Goddess Durga during a procession, ahead of the Durga Puja Carnival 2024, at Suri in Birbhum district, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

As the Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal are slowly coming to an end, the government is preparing for its annual Durga Puja carnival where the top pandals participate in a long roadshow to showcase the artwork. But this year the carnival, scheduled for Tuesday (October 15), is facing the heat of the R.G. Kar protests as junior doctors sitting on a fast-until-death are not more than 500 metres away from the carnival site. 

Started in 2016, the annual carnival is a major event for the West Bengal government with foreign delegates and other dignitaries participating to witness the art and hard work that goes behind the Durga Puja festivities. The carnival garnered more attention after UNESCO recognised Durga Puja as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. More than 90 puja pandals are set to participate in this year’s carnival.

However, the junior doctors have called for a human chain formation on Tuesday (October 15), coinciding with this year’s carnival. They have however assured that they will cause no hindrance to the carnival and will only participate in a silent protest. 

“We know there is a High Court order that no one can disturb or disrupt the carnival, and we plan to obey that order. But we also have our own protest where we will form peaceful human chains on the sides of the roads without disrupting traffic,” said Dr. Debasish Haldar, a protesting junior doctor which gave the call for the human chain formation. He appealed to all doctors and symapthisers of the movement to join in.  

West Bengal Chief Secretary, Manoj Pant on Monday (October 14, 2024) said that the administration had requested the junior doctors to withdraw their protests. “We have emailed them and asked them to withdraw this protest. We hope they listen to us,” said Mr. Pant. 

BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Sunday (October 13, 2024) had called for a boycott of the Durga Puja carnival organised by the Mamata Banerjee government. 

Mr. Adhikari said that this year the people of Bengal only had the pujas, but they were not filled with festivities like the previous years. Referring to the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R. G. Kar hospotal, He said that the boycott was a message to the State administration which failed to protect the Durgas in their own homes.