Kolkata: A city Durga Puja committee which had incorporated a spine as part of their theme six months earlier withdrew the 40-ft installation and removed it to the backyard of the pandal following uncomfortable questions from different quarters. Beleghata Gandhi Math Friend Circle, in their 51st year of the puja, had conceptualised their theme “Father as the backbone of a family”.
TOI had reported last week how a couple of pujas were caught in a flap over their theme that highlighted the backbone although they had thought of the ideas several months before the RG Kar protests.
Organisers of the Beleghata puja said their theme was conceptualised in Feb. But after the RG Kar protests where junior doctors marched to the Lalbazar police headquarters with a replica of a spine, their puja theme was seen with suspicion, with the organisers facing queries over the theme’s intent.
“We don’t want any controversy. We were bombarded with questions on why we had installed the spine and had difficulty explaining our intent, which had nothing to do with the protest. We are making a 2% adjustment to our theme and are replacing the spine with another object,” said Prasenjit Dey, the cultural secretary of the club.
Sources said since news reports and photographs of the spine installation at the pandal came out in public, the club organisers had received multiple queries from different agencies of the state administration and state intelligence. Stressed by the numerous calls, the club decided to push the spine, which was supposed to be highlighted at the entrance to the mandap, to the backyard of the pandal, out of public view, among discarded bamboo poles and other objects. “We want people to visit our puja and enjoy the festivities. We have no intention to stir up unnecessary controversy,” said Dey.
Members of another puja committee, Kestopur Masterda Smriti Sangha on VIP Road, who had installed a 70ft-long spine across the roof of the pandal said they, too, received similar questions but stressed it was too late to tweak the theme. “Since news came out, we have received multiple queries from different agencies, including state intelligence, about the intent behind the theme. We clarified it had nothing to do with the RG Kar protests. We made them understand the installation of the spinal cord was to portray that the burden of knowledge never damages or bends the spine but keeps the backbone straight,” said club member Amit Chowdhury.