A first: KMC to host Holi celebration on March 12, sends invitation to councillors
Telegraph | 10 March 2025
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has sent invitation cards to all its councillors asking them to bring people of all communities, with a stress on non-Bengali speakers, for a Holi/Dol celebration on March 12.
This is the first time the civic body will host a Holi celebration. For years, the KMC has been hosting an Iftar during the month of Ramzan.
Garba, dandiya, folk songs and an address by chief minister Mamata Banerjee are on the programme list.
Invites have been sent out to associations representing the city’s Marwaris, Gujaratis, Jains, Biharis, Sikhs and Bengalis, among others.
Mamata had asked Calcutta’s mayor Firhad Hakim to organise a programme on the occasion of Holi at a meeting in Nabanna on March 3.
Civic body sources said on Saturday that Holi celebrations will help reach out to a section of Calcuttans who are being badgered with the narrative that the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress do not care for them.
“A narrative is being propagated that we conduct Iftar during the Ramzan month but we do not celebrate festivals of other religions. The chief minister herself inaugurates many Durga Pujas. She goes for Christmas celebrations on Park Street. Now, the KMC is getting involved in organising a Holi celebration, too,” said a senior Trinamool leader who requested anonymity.
Dolyatra O Holi-r Milan Utsab (Festive gathering for Dolyatra and Holi) is how the celebrations have been headlined.
It will be held at Dhono Dhanyo auditorium in Alipore.
While announcing the programme on March 3, Mamata had said: “I will ask the KMC to organise a celebration for Dolyatra and Holi on March 12 at 5pm. I will be there.”
“There will be a programme for five minutes for Dolyatra. I am choosing the song... Neel Digonte (a Rabindrasangeet). Indranil (Sen) and Babul (Supriyo) will sing. There will be another where we will play dandiya with the Marwaris and Gujaratis,” she said. “Please invite Biharis also. Please see that all communuties are there — the Rajasthanis, those from UP, the Jains, the Sikhs and Bengali-speaking people,” she said.
“The KMC will organise the programme on the occasion of Dolyatra and Holi just like they do an Iftar during Ramzan month,” the chief minister said.
A senior Trinamool leader at the KMC said the Holi celebrations were also an attempt to reach out to a section of Calcuttans who might develop a feeling of being left out. “We want to tell everyone that you are part of Calcutta. That is why we have invited everyone, including Bengali speakers. There is no discrimination based on language or faith,” said the leader.
Bhowanipore, Alipore, Cossipore, Ballygunge and Burrabazar are among parts of Calcutta with a heavy population of non-Bengali speakers. Across the Hooghly, multiple neighbourhoods in Howrah have a large number of Hindi speakers.
“I was sent 200 cards. I received a call from the mayor requesting me to bring people from my community,” said Harindra Singh, a member of the Rashtriya Bihari Samaj.
Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, a leader among the Sikh community in Calcutta, said he had received a call from the mayor’s office. “I have asked many people in the community to come along,” he said.