By Shrabana Chatterjee

Copyright thehindu

Durga Pujas across Kolkata are celebrating Bengali language, identity and pride this year in a nod to the trials and tribulations of migrant labourers from the State elsewhere, with several instances of harassment on suspicion of being Bangladeshis coming to light.

Bengali ashmita

While some celebrate the great literary figures of Bengal, some pay obeisance to the Bengali language as their mother tongue, and some salute the Bengali migrant labour force, the common thread binding them is Bengali ashmita (pride).

The theme at Ashok Nagar South Kolkata Palli Sangha is ‘ Bangla amar maa-er bhasa (Bengali is my mother tongue)’.

“We developed this theme because of the atrocities faced by people if they speak in Bengali outside Bengal. Many have mocked the language, many have been physically abused,” Abhijit Ray, a member of the organising committee, told The Hindu .

Portraits of literary icons Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Kazi Nazrul Islam and others who called for unity among people and gave shape to the culture of Bengal adorn the Kolkata Durga Puja pandal in south Kolkata’s Tollygunge.

Nazrul’s words – “Bengali language is the sound of our independent soul; in it is hidden our community’s uprising” – greet visitors at the entrance here, with quotable quotes of Tagore and Vivekananda also put up elsewhere at this community pandal.

On the north side of the city, the theme is ‘ Ami Banglai bolchi (I am speaking in Bengali)’ at a pandal in Manicktala. According to the organisers, this is a direct protest against the “language domination” faced by the Bengali language in the hands of other communities and their languages. The artwork here traces the roots of the Bengali language. However, the organisers here said the pandal is about every person’s mother tongue and a celebration of it through festivities.

Migrant labourers

At the Raipur Club in south Kolkata’s Ganguly Bangan area, the puja pavilion highlights the lives of parijayi (migrant labourers). “Most of our dreams are constructed by the homeless, landless labourers. They leave their lives behind to build ours. Often, they do not have the privilege to come back home and celebrate Durga Puja. So, this year, this puja is for them,” said Riju Saha, a member of the Durga Puja committee here.

He added that, unlike big-budget pujas, they aim to target the general audience, including marginalised people, and ensure they have a good experience while visiting their Durga Puja.

Beyond these, this year, many Durga Puja pandals are also celebrating the literature and films of stalwart Bengali artists, including Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Leela Majumdar, and many more.

This year, the celebrations across pandals emerge as a larger collective assertion of the Bengali pride, as this autumn continues to be the anchor of Bengalis across the globe.