Kolkata Police museum
A Kolkata Police Facebook post on the same subject, shared shortly after Durga Puja in 2024, had generated wide curiosity. In 1906, the secret revolutionary group Anushilan Samiti held a puja where weapons such as swords, knives, and sticks were ritually worshipped.
Traditional pandals became centres for Swadeshi mobilization, martial training, and political protest,” a police officer said. This cemented Durga Puja’s legacy as a cultural pillar of Bengal’s freedom struggle,” an officer said. Kolkata: Bengal’s historic resistance to colonial rule gradually transformed Durga Puja from an elite, family-hosted festival into a powerful platform of national resistance, Kolkata Police had claimed, citing excerpts from classified files kept at the Special Branch office. This Durga Puja, Kolkata Police is planning to use the same Special Branch archives to trace the evolution of Barowari Durga Puja. An exhibition is likely to be held at the Kolkata Police Museum. The city police also plan to share archival material on its social media handles as Bengal prepares for its biggest festival of the year. “Incidents such as Rani Rashmoni defying noise restrictions, weapon worship at the Anushilan Samiti headquarters, and the rise of inclusive sarbojanin pujas transformed the festival into an anti-colonial platform. Under leaders like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who helped organize key community pujas, Durga was reimagined as a defiant warrior and as Bharat Mata. As India’s nationalist movement grew stronger, Durga Puja changed from an exclusive family event into a community-funded sarbojanin celebration. Freedom fighters including Rishi Aurobindo and Bagha Jatin were present. By the 1920s and 1930s, community pujas such as Bagbazar Sarbojanin, Kumortuli Sarbojanin, and Simla Byayam Samity became centres of political expression and martial training. These pujas also received support from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. “Resistance reached its peak during World War II , when a small puja in Faridpur unveiled an idol showing Mahishasura as a uniformed British officer, with Subhas Chandra Bose in military attire beside the idol. Though the colonial govt quickly cracked down and seized idols, the revolutionary spirit of the festival continued even inside colonial detention centres such as Hijli and Rajshahi Jail.