For years, BE Block has performed two pujas — BE (East) and BE (West). But this year, the BE (East) area itself will be having two pujas. The new one will be conducted by the outgoing all-women committee that had been organising the BE (East) puja for the past two years.
The breakaway is the result of a rift that has been brewing for years. The women claim the previous committee was neck-deep in financial misdealings and that in 2020 they had to wrest power and form a new committee to perform Durga puja. But this year they have been ousted unceremoniously and that a committee has been formed comprising some of the previously tainted members.
“Our annual general meeting in April was nothing short of a riot. We women were insulted and humiliated. We were forced to stage a walkout and the meeting was adjourned,” says a member of the all-women team, requesting anonymity. “The next meeting in July was even worse and we feared being physically assaulted. Again we had to walk out.”
The women claim the opposition misrepresented the walkout as a step-down in the minutes of the meeting and milked the opportunity to form their own puja committee.
The new team, under the banner of Salt Lake BE (East) puja committee, performed their khuti puja on August 7 with local councillor Sabyasachi Dutta in attendance and is looking forward to a big-ticket puja like they used to celebrate till 2019.
“People love pandal-hopping and so a puja must cater not only to block residents but also outsiders,” says new joint secretary Arindam Bhattacharya. “Our puja was modest the last two years due to the pandemic and the interim committee but this time it shall return to its previous glory while still staying true to tradition.” The budget is yet to be pegged.
Local councillor Sabyasachi Dutta holds up the bamboo pole along with others
Gravy train
The scale of the puja is a bone of contention. The women’s team says they had intentionally performed homely pujas to shift the attention to residents, particularly senior citizens whom they felicitated and who participated in large numbers after many years.
“But the opposition members walked in and passed comments like ‘bhikirider pujo’,” says the lady member. “It would have been heartless to flaunt a lavish puja at a time people were staring at pandemic-induced job losses. Let it come to light that the previous committee, after 40 years of puja, had left a bank balance of Rs 3.5 lakh in 2019, whereas our team left Rs 8.7 lakh after just two years and that too during the pandemic and after donating in charitable causes.”
The women allege that a member of the previous committee would receive cut money from the decorators and electricians chosen for the contract for the puja; that another member bought a personal phone with the puja’s funds and that one of them lost the puja subscription receipt book and replaced it with a new one without informing either the police or the committee.
Bhattacharya says that while these allegations cannot be proved, the new committee has been careful not to appoint residents accused of such financial irregularities in formal posts. “But it’s a community puja and we cannot exclude anyone. Everyone is free to work unofficially. The ladies had also wanted us to create a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh with the puja’s kitty, which we have,” he says.
As for the alleged coup at the July meeting, he denies it. “We have signatures from 11 women saying they are stepping down from the board,” Bhattacharya says.
The Durga puja conducted by the ladies’ group in BE (East) last year
Parallel puja
The women are now performing their own puja to prove a point. “After shouting things like ‘Mohila-der pujo korte debo na’ and ‘Meyeder tariye diyechhi,’ it is anyone’s guess how the new committee will worship a goddess,” says the women’s team member.
She says residents came up to them after the coup saying they were too disgusted to attend the puja conducted by the boorish new team. “It’s for them that we are holding a parallel puja. It won’t have the razzmatazz of the other one but will be performed with purity and devotion,” she promises.
This new puja, conducted by about 15 women, will be held at Manisha Ganguly’s garage in BE 118. The ladies claim they are pooling in funds themselves but that others are welcome to donate in cash, kind or simply with their participation.
But Bhattacharya says five to 10 families have complained to him that this parallel team has asked them to boycott the official puja and fund the breakaway puja instead. “They can hardly call themselves a community puja as they’ll never get permission from the authorities. And if they are a private puja then why ask outsiders for subscription?” he reasons.
Bhattacharya claims they too have information about financial irregularities by the women’s team, “but we are keeping silent as we don’t want to wash dirty linen in public. If we malign our neighbours we get maligned too,” he says. “We have never said no to women per se. My joint secretary this year is a lady. Anyone interested to work for the puja is welcome.”
Write to saltlake@abp.in