Apart from triggering nationwide protests, the ghastly rape and and murder of a junior doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata seems to have also cast a shadow on this year’s Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal scheduled from October 9-13. Two days after the Uttarpara Sakti Sangha in Hooghly district became the first to reject the Rs 85,000 annual festival grant given to all the community Durga Puja committees in the state by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, an all-women association in the same town on Saturday turned down the dole which has been raised from Rs 70,000 to Rs 85,000 this year. As a mark of protest against the R.G. Kar incident, the office-bearers of Bouthan Sangha, an all-women Durga Puja committee in Uttarpara, on Saturday forwarded a communique to the district administration conveying their decision to reject the state government’s annual festival grant. The organisers also coined the tagline — ‘Meyer Bichar Din, Mayer Pujo Nejera Bujhe Nebo’ (Give justice to the daughter, we will take care of Mother’s worship).
An office-bearer of Bouthan Sangha said they had been accepting the state government’s annual donation since the time the Mamata Banerjee-led government introduced it a few years back. “However, this year we have decided to refuse the grant as a mark of protest against the ghastly rape and murder at R.G. Kar Hospital,” she said. She also said that the widespread protests which have been triggered by the at R.G. Kar incident should continue to ensure women’s safety. On July 23, Chief Minister Banerjee had announced a hike in the honorarium for community Durga Pujas, raising it from last year’s Rs 70,000 per Puja committee to Rs 85,000 this year. Meanwhile, Forum for Durgotsab, an association of community Puja committees in West Bengal, has issued an appeal urging the public not to link Durga Puja celebrations to the R.G. Kar incident. Yet, after the Uttarpara Shakti Sangha announced its decision to reject the government’s honorarium, other Puja committees too are now coming forward to convey their decision to turn down the annual grant, with Bouthan Sangha becoming the latest to join the list.