Durga Pujas positioned in numerous components of the town like Suruchi Sangha in Kolkata’s New Alipore, Hatibagan Nabin Pally in Hatibagan, and Samaj Sebi Sangha in Lake View Road, have explored such themes.
Notably, the historical past of pre-partition Bengal was revived within the public consciousness and discourse, both by way of controversies surrounding the depiction of the Calcutta riots of 1946 within the movie ‘The Bengal Files’, or with Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee highlighting the function of Bengal in India’s independence, as a part of Trinamool’s ‘Bangali asmita’ (Bengali pleasure) ballot plank for the 2026 Assembly elections.
The theme of the well-known Samaj Sebi Sangha Durga Puja, positioned on Lake View Road in South Kolkata, evokes imagery of the concord that existed amidst the widespread communal strife of 1946, particularly within the very neighbourhood it’s located in.
“Like many different components of Kolkata, Lake View Road too was witness to communal riots in 1945/46. Samaj Sebi as a group membership was born round that point, with the mission to organise Durga Puja as a approach to carry individuals collectively regardless of the violence. In our theme, we reimagined the Lake View Road of 1946 the place residents have been united towards communal rivalry and joined palms to steer rescue efforts,” the artist behind the Durga Puja, Pradip Das instructed The Hindu.
Samaj Sebi’s Durga Puja pandal, by way of its artwork, has reimagined the Lake View Road neighbourhood of 1946 — with its homes and streets — alongside pages from newspapers depicting communal violence, deaths, and loot. Bust sculptures of famend residents like Leela Roy, Meghnad Saha and Jadunath Sarkar, are featured within the pandal.
According to organisers, Leela Roy, the founding father of Samaj Sebi Sangha was recognized to have labored alongside freedom fighters of the time and would journey with a truck to hold out rescue operations for individuals of all faiths.
“We saved azaan because the audio enjoying inside this pandal to additional drive house the idea of communal concord on this neighbourhood. These are ideas we will solely discover in a metropolis like Kolkata,” Mr. Das stated.
Suruchi Sangha, a preferred Durga Puja in South Kolkata which pulls a number of lakh guests on a regular basis, primarily based their theme this yr on Anushilan Samity, a secret society of revolutionaries in twentieth century Bengal working to carry an finish to British colonial rule.
The Suruchi Sangha pandal options a number of murals depicting freedom fighters and scenes from the liberty motion, together with textual content snippets in Bangla highlighting important factors from that timeline. Walkthroughs within the pandal are lined with bust sculptures of freedom fighters. Upon getting into, guests witness a lifelike sculpture of freedom fighter Khudiram Bose, with a rendition of the excessive courtroom order spelling out his demise sentence.
“Anushilan Samity was one of many first revolutionary teams to start out armed resistance in pre-independence Bengal. While we all know the well-known freedom fighters who have been a part of it, like Khudiram Bose, Pritilata Waddedar, Prafulla Chaki and others, Anushilan Samity as a collective doesn’t obtain the highlight that it ought to, within the pages of historical past. Hence, that is our try to recreate moments from that time limit and assist individuals know extra about it,” stated Souvik Ray, one of many organisers of the Durga Puja.
He added that the murals depicting scenes from the violent colonial rule of the British and textual content snippets from historical past have been created by scraping off plaster of paris.
“The complete pandal was envisaged as a jail. Alongside the murals we even have a bit on the person histories of the revolutionaries of Anushilan Samity,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Hatibagan Nabinpally, positioned within the distinguished Hatibagan space of north Kolkata, primarily based their pandal and idol on the theme ‘Amar Desh Amar Durga’ (my nation, by Durga), putting the goddess within the context of the Quit India motion and placing up murals and paintings on feminine freedom fighters from throughout the nation.
In this puja, the idol of Goddess Durga stands towards the backdrop of the Indian flag. According to organiser Tarna Dutta Chowdhury, the idol was designed within the Midnapore patachitra model, whereas demon king Mahisasura was created in a Western inventive model.
“When individuals go to our pandal, they are going to get a deep dive into the ladies who fought within the Quit India motion, together with not simply well-known freedom fighters like Matangini Hazra but additionally among the younger feminine martyrs like Kanaklata Baruah of Assam who was 17, and Tileswari Baruah who was 12 when she died. Our pandal has been designed with murals and textual content snippets about these ladies, lots of whom are lesser recognized,” Ms. Chowdhury stated.
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