Message from Puja pandal - change cometh in Writers Building!

KOLKATA - Durga Puja ‘pandals’ here are often spin-offs on current themes. And sure enough, this time one has borrowed a famous line from a Satyajit Ray film to indicate - not too subtly - that winds of political change are blowing in West Bengal.

The Durga Puja at Santosh Mitro Square in north Kolkata is best known for its unique themes and is one of the biggest crowd pullers in the state. Celebrating its 75th year this time, the pandal, as marquees are locally known, has been modelled on Writers Building, the seat of power of the Left Front government. But there’s a twist.

The catchphrase of the theme is “Dori Dhore Maro Taan/Raja Hobe Khaan Khaan” - meaning pull the rope and the king will fall, leaving little to imagination as to what the intended message is!

“This time we have taken up the theme of ‘Dori Dhore Maro Taan/Raja Hobe Khaan Khaan’. And the pandal is a model of the state secretariat Writers’ Building,” spells out Pradip Ghosh, a Congress leader and an organiser of the Santosh Mitro Square Puja.

Sajal Ghosh, joint secretary of the Puja organising committee, minced no words when he told IANS: “The winds of political change are blowing in Bengal. That is why we have taken up this theme.

“This is our gift to the people of Bengal.”

“Dori Dhore…” is a famous dialogue from Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray’s film “Hirak Rajar Deshe”, the second in the “Goopy Gayne Bagha Byne” trilogy.

It has obviously not gone down well with leaders of the Left Front, which has been in power for 33 years in the state but has suffered reverses at the hands of the Trinamool Congress and Congress parties in the last Lok Sabha and municipal polls.

“Various politicians are associated with Durga Pujas in and around Kolkata. They try to gain mileage out of the pujas,” said Mohammad Salim, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which leads the Left Front government.

Of course, there could be other interpretations as well.

“I think this theme has a social message. Durga Puja is celebrated all over India. As we all know that Ma Durga fights evil and at the end, there is the victory of good,” said Geetanjali Ray Maitro, a professor of sociology.

“The theme can be interpreted to mean that Ma Durga is coming to fight for the poor and the oppressed.”

Durga Puja, one of the biggest festivals of eastern India, will be celebrated for five days from Wednesday.