Durga Puja platform
Forum office-bearer Anjan Ukil said membership had grown from 60 clubs to 650.
Ghosh said the body would connect organisers across Bengal instead of remaining Kolkata-centric. Ghosh said the committee would not entertain puja organisers who accommodated groups selling literature that “insults” or “counters” the ethos of Sanatan dharma. He said the initiative arose from “people’s need for a neutral space”. That is why West Bengal Durga Puja Coordination Committee was formed,” he said. Ghosh said he was not concerned about the fate of the existing forum. Anybody can join us,” he said. “We maintained that the material had been chemically treated and was fire-resistant, but officials issued a notice, citing violation of the Sept 15, 2009, court order and warning of risk to life and property,” said Partho Ghosh, Shib Mandir secretary and a founding Forum member. Forum president Sandipan Banerjee said he was unaware of the new body’s objectives or membership. “We have never had a politician as a functionary and will continue to be that way,” he said.
The invitation described the initiative as an effort to bring Durga Puja organisers onto a common platform. It also plans a digital portal with a database of pujas, listings and photographs of key cultural and religious events associated with Sanatan dharma. “They wanted to move away from a format where only big-budget Kolkata puja organisers would have the right to voice their problems. The smaller pujas too needed a platform. A meeting is scheduled this week to decide operational protocol, state-wise coordination and a regulatory framework. That is completely their own concern.
“I am neither going to talk about the earlier forum nor discuss how they are surviving or going to survive.