Kolkata, Sept. 30 -- Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal are set for a major organisational shift under the new BJP government. Days after the puja carnival was scrapped, a pre-puja event was announced at Eden Gardens on Mahalaya, likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maha Ashtami was declared a state dry day, and early pandal inaugurations before Mahalaya were barred, another key change has now been introduced.
The Forum for Durgotsav, which served as the prominent organisers' body for over two decades, now has a new competitor, the Paschim Banga Durga Puja Samannay Samiti. The platform was officially launched on Wednesday at the Press Club, Kolkata. BJP MLA and actor Rudranil Ghosh, who is also the chairman of the West Bengal Assembly's standing committee on information and culture, is the chief adviser and convener of the new committee.
Ghosh said the initiative aims to bring Durga Puja organisers from Kolkata, Bengal, India and across the world onto a single common platform. "We are not a platform only for VIPs and big pujas. Wherever in the world Maa Durga is worshipped, we want those organisers with us," Ghosh said, urging puja committees within and outside Bengal, including those abroad, to join. Ghosh, along with other members and puja organisers, unveiled the logo and website of the initiative at the event.
He also spoke out against the VIP pass culture during Durga Puja. "If VIP passes are to be issued at all, they should be reserved for senior citizens. Money should not decide who gets exclusive access to pandals," he said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.