West Bengal: No real 'Matam' for Hindus because of Muharram arrangements

Frankly, the whole thing is a bit of optics! Didi has dumped ‘Ma’ for Muharram is the popular narrative that is making waves on social media. It’s particularly popular among people from out of Bengal, who really take Durga Puja as an epitome of Hindu celebrations in Bengal. So, the narrative prophecises a complete Hindu decimation in West Bengal, and allows us, Bengalis, a few chuckles! They are mostly incorrect. I can’t talk for all Bengalis though, as my cognition is severely limited to Kolkata city.  

The first fact is, immersion isn’t completely banned on Dashami day. Second fact - there are more serious issues to think of. But I guess, we can lose 10 minutes to the topic.

Let me first decode ‘Puja’ for you. For an average Calcuttan, Puja is a mix of fun, food, friends, adda, reunions, booze, dating, culture, activities, fashion, competitions, pandal hopping with per capita per Puja 3-4 hours of real worship thrown in, in the form of ‘pushpanjalis’ and ‘Debi Baran’. Rest of the real puja is the job of the pandits, who are there to ensure KRA delivery of rituals. The organisers are horribly busy trying to maintain a balance among the boundary conditions of religion, aesthetics, cultural activities and brand equity! Yes, brand equity. The better brand equity you have, that much better sponsorships you get. And next year becomes more fun. ‘TRP’, for a celebrated Puja, is the key to its success. Nobody has a clue on Mother Goddess’s satisfaction level though!

Puja is a deadly cocktail of culture and commerce, that gives us our yearly kick! Puja, is the ‘aah’ moment of Bengal’s cultural orgasm, which every group, from nationalists to communists, via liberals, have tried to seize to reach ideological climax.  Hence, art has played an important role in adding or subtracting meaning into this enormous interactive visual, social and cultural affair. And nobody minds getting this moment more. So, an extra day or two, is actually welcome.  

I am not sure you get cameramen clicking festival beauties in a religious event in most cultures in India. In Calcutta, you do that.  A popular magazine sets its shutterbugs on the trail of beautiful ladies. They are clicked, of course with consent. And the supposedly most gorgeous and fashionable get to be the ‘Miss’ of that day of the Puja.

Judges of different awards go pandal hopping to declare the best Puja in the categories of – Pratima, Pandal, Theme etc. No wonder then, that you get to see a Louvre or Vatican or Anaconda or Hogwarts or even a ‘plane crash’ pandal. Often, film set designers design these pandals. Hence, a puja budget can run into crores. ‘Theme’ of a Puja is an in thing, and its rendition decides the success of it.   

Socially, Puja brings together a motley crowd, mixing believers, atheists, agnostics, communists and possibly a Muslim head of a Puja! For a few years, the Secretary of the Puja committee in my childhood locality was one Abdul Jalil!! This is particularly true to many Pujas in Muslim majority areas. I remember a Muslim colleague of mine wanted to offer pushpanjali in CR Park, New Delhi, because he missed Kolkata puja. Last year, a dormant Puja was revived by local Muslims in a village in Burdwan district.

So, what could go wrong if you extend this elaborate ‘carnival’ for a couple of days more! The Bengal administration has put a curb on immersions from 6 pm on September 30, i.e., Bijaya Dashami to 6 am on October 2, as I understand the declaration and as per the information I last received. The timing is of essence! Last year, the administrative permission for immersion till 4 pm on Dashami was extended till 8.30 pm by the High Court, following appeal by three small Puja Committees. So, it seems, this year too there’s a possibility of an extension. But Didi has ceded ground already by allowing two more hours than she did last year in this fight of symbolism.

Yes symbolism. Why? The four-day festivity has already extended up to 7 days in practice, years back. No Puja Committee spending a huge budget wants the show to end soon. So, in actuality, most immersions happen between Ekadashi (the day after Dashami and the day of Muharram this time) and Trayodashi (the third day after Dashami). So, by disallowing the immersion only in the evening of Dashami and Muharram day, there’s not much change of practice. Last year, small pujas, especially ‘Banedi’ traditional ones, were allowed to carry on immersions till 8.30 pm, where routes didn’t clash with pre-Muharram processions. Even by the present arrangement, they can carry on immersion on Dashami till 6 pm. The committees are given time till 4^th October to immerse their idols. But, with this step, she has sent a strong message to her Muslim (in Bengal, I have never heard of a Shia-Sunni physical conflict) constituency. And with her ‘Durga Puja carnival’, she balances her ‘secular’ credential, which misses the eye of national media.

Secondly, Mamata has minimised possibility of any ‘conflict’. Five years back this was not even a possibility. Muharram and Dashami immersions have taken place together earlier too. These days, the conflict algorithm starts with a stone thrown at one procession from another, or a beef thrown at a temple, or a sentimental issue raked through online posts or verbal abuse etc. The online threats persist, but physical threats minimise when processions don’t meet each other, as indeed, one cannot completely rule out motivated people starting such a series of events getting such a chance. Mamata can’t afford such a situation just before the U 17 World Cup starts and flood situation being a mess. 

Thirdly, the effective loss of working day would only be one – 3^rd October. In any case Bengal is used to loss of working days, so what the heck!

But fourthly and most importantly, the move is a strongly political one. It catches the main opposition BJP in its own cobweb, by shifting the focus from flood situation and resulting rise in food prices to ‘one day in the life of Puja’.  BJP has said precious little of administrative failures in the flood. It has also lost an opportunity to communicate to Bengalis that it means more than just religion by ceasing to act decisively or at least state its position impressionably on flood situation, resulting price rise and dengue. Even though there are some who think (like me) that Mamata has actually allowed a place for ‘communal’ politics in Bengal by ‘overcooking’ the Muslim issue, yet politically it doesn’t mean much as of now. Her core constituency is with her, as is evident. Many local clubs and Puja committees have benefitted by her largesse.  In the simple binary of vote bank politics, ‘imported’ Ram Navamis in their straight visually ugly and loud avatars are not much effective symbolisms to woo sentimental Bengali voters. And remember, Mamata presides over a Durga Puja carnival these days – a better organised visually palatable immersion procession of Durga idols. So, she cannot be projected as anti-Ma to her voters so easily.

As of now, the ‘Aye’ vote would be for Mamata even after seeming duality of Dusherra-Muharram and even if some voters support grudgingly. It’s not that Bongs couldn’t be polarised. But the BJP simply doesn’t know how! That, CPM knew and Mamata learnt.

So, what’s next? The U 17 Football World Cup. Period. Bengal loves hopping from one ‘event’ to another. Just after Puja, it is getting the action it loves the most. Football. And Didi is making elaborate arrangement for the show. She does know how to play the ball with her audience! As we have seen in Latin America, football and carnivals are persisting panacea for finance-strived communities. We love Latin football. I am for Brazil. This time I get to cheer India though. 

The writer is Head-Production, Digital ASSOCHAM, and runs an AV services firm.