By Ishita Malakar
The city that celebrates, also holds people accountable. Shining in bright lights, the themes across Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata this year has witnessed a different scene as well alongside being a great tapestry of art, it has also addressed issues linked to social justice, migrant rights, including genocide, all, of which are vastly political themes.
Despite some resisting questions around how god is now fundamentally being interwoven into politics, these themes have however posed questions about the otherwise uncomfortable narratives and has critiqued the international political structure as well as held authorities accountable by passing on social commentaries about relevant contemporary and social narratives.
A relevant example was a pandal in the Dumdum area that has brought in real migrant workers focusing on the harassment faced by Bengali speaking workers in other states outside Bengal. The puja committee highlighted how it has become a nightmare for these workers,especially after the horrors in Bangladesh.
Yet another theme that sparked conversations was the Behala Friends’ named “Nabanna: Wounds, War and Hunger” that has reimagined the idol as not a divine being, but a common woman surrounded with scenes of suffering and trauma. Upon entering, the visitors are greeted with a recital of the poem Face-To-Face by a Palestinian poet based in Gaza, Nama Hassan. It has stood out simply not just as a form of powerful craftsmanship, but as a reality of the devastation Palestinians are witnessing in terms of hunger and loss.
Another pandal revisited the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings during the riots advocating for a secular state. Thereby presenting an ‘us-versus-them’ narrative, it has successfully portrayed how violence infested by a few cannot define the vast majority of people.
Although there have been quiet conversations about how a sacred festival is getting overshadowed by overtones of political narratives, some are of the opinion that art is supposed to provoke something within us and supposed to question the dominant narratives.