Kolkata: Allen Park on Park Street, a venue that has been associated with Christmas celebrations since 2011 and Park Street Carnival for four years prior to that, will host a Durga Puja for the first time this year. The puja will be organised by Kolkata Sanatani Sangha, a group headed by several BJP functionaries, who have vowed to make the puja a spectacle following Sanatani norms.The puja committee includes BJP general secretary Navin Mishra (also co-in charge of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Bengal and a member of CM Suvendu Adhikari’s team of election agents) as secretary and BJP spokesperson Shankudeb Panda as president.The organisers say they plan to make the puja distinctly Bengali and rooted in Sanatani rituals with cultural programmes showcasing Baul music and traditions from Purulia, Bankura, North Bengal and other parts of Bengal. There are also plans to hold a grand aarti every evening on the lines of the Ganga aarti held in Varanasi and prasad distribution during the main days of the festival.Mishra, a resident of the Park Street area, said the idea of organising a puja in the locality had been on his mind since he first contested the 2015 civic elections.“Park Street has not traditionally been a venue for Durga Puja. There used to be a small puja here more than 200 years ago, but it happened only once or twice. After that, there has been no Durga Puja in Park Street. We are creating history,” he said.Allen Park became the venue of the six-day Park Street Carnival in 2007, when architect Monica Bhargav Khosla, along with restaurateurs Pratap Daryanani and Deepak Puri, among others, formed the Society for Park Street Rejuvenation Kolkata (SPARK). The festival was taken over by Bengal govt after 2011, rechristened the Christmas Festival and extended till the year-end.Mishra said the Durga Puja is not intended to replace or interfere with the Christmas celebrations. “We have no objection to anyone celebrating their festival. Christmas should be celebrated beautifully. Park Street has its own charm during Christmas. We want everyone to follow their traditions, while ensuring that our Bengali and Sanatani culture is also represented,” he said.Mishra said the puja committee is reaching out to prominent citizens, businessmen, academics and retired professionals in the locality to serve as patrons. “We want the puja to be free of political pressure and not inconvenience common people. It should be a celebration in which everyone can participate,” he added.While pandal construction started last week, the Sanatani Sangha will organise a bhoomi pujan next week. “In Sanatani rituals, there is no concept of ‘khuti puja’. But there is the sacred ritual of bhoomi pujan, which we will undertake,” he said.“We want people to come to Park Street specifically to see the grand evening aarti from Chaturthi to Dashami just as people visit the Varanasi ghats to see the Ganga aarti. Families from neighbouring districts can come here, enjoy the cultural programmes, have prasad and watch the aarti. We want this puja to be a spectacle while following traditional norms,” Mishra said.The organisers are considering starting the cultural activities on Mahalaya, although the formal puja rituals will begin only from Chaturthi.
