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Kolkata: Amid the sultry air and sudden downpours of the month of Bhadra on the Bengali calendar, the moment the sky clears into a soft blue brushed with wisps of white clouds is that of levity. As is well known, Durga Puja is the biggest religious, social and cultural event in Bengal.

Yet this year, with a little more than a month left on the calendar, the usual festive fervour feels muted. It is not that people have lost interest, but rather that a controversial set of directives issued by the new Bharatiya Janata Party government and bodies associated with it under the Hindutva umbrella has thrown Bengal’s statement festival into an unprecedented ideological debate. Instead of the customary countdown, public discourse has been hijacked by a series of polarising friction points – traditional versus theme-based idols and pandals, dietary diktats to restrict non-vegetarian food, ritualistic schedules and, above all, the call to limit non-Hindu involvement , which directly challenges Bengal’s long-standing tradition of sarbojanin (all inclusive) pujas, where diverse communities collaboratively build the pandals.

Recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Durga Puja in Bengal has long surpassed strict orthodoxy — functioning as an inclusive festival of artistry and shared feasting where community boundaries blur.

Hindutva groups, long having failed to dominate the narrative of the Durga Puja, have now swept it in a storm of discussions that run opposite to it.

A few days ago, in a meeting with nearly 500 puja committees and Forum for Durgotsav representatives, Swami Nirgun Ananda, Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad stated: “Religion belongs to individuals, but festivals belong to everyone — this does not happen. Practically no religion accepts this.”

“Everyone has the right to follow his/her own religious practices, so we cannot demean our traditional culture,” said Nirgunananda.

This ran foul of and was a reference to a line repeated often by Bengal’s previous chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, “Religion is individual but the festival is for all.”

Partha Ghosh, chairman of the Forum for Durgotsav, told The Wire that the VHP said that vegetarian or non-vegetarian food must not be eaten inside the pandals. But for Ghosh, this was not the major issue. “What we felt extremely bad about is the demand for dropping the word “sarbajanin” from the pujas. No one from any other religion should be allowed to be associated with the pujas, it says. We have never ever seen Durgotsav from this prism. The recognition of Kolkata’s Durga Puja by UNESCO in 2021 also clearly highlighted its sarbojanin nature. Why should we depart from our age-old practices?” asked Ghosh.

Even last year, Tim Curtis, UNESCO representative in India, had highlighted that the Puja embodies the sarbojonin spirit (for all people) that has defined community worship since 1926.

As is well known, Durga Puja........

© The Wire