Puja pandals and politics

BY Saadia Azim| IN Books | 07/11/2010

‘The other Durga asks for peace with efforts from all parties’, read the story of the Adivasi Durga carrying the flags of all political parties, and yearning for peace.

The Maoists and the Trinamool permeated Puja coverage in a state addicted to both Durga puja and politics, says SAADIA AZIM

Bengalis are afflicted by Puja fever each year, and if newspapers want advertising during West Bengal’s month long festive season they know they have to cater to it. Their reporters scour the countryside in search of likely features. Durga Puja coverage is compulsory in West Bengal. Much before the Pujas actually begin, newspapers have pre-determined story ideas. From theme pandals to puja fervour, to the local business involved in the festivities each year, the stories are predictable.

Unsurprisingly both The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika gave ample space to the festivity in their coverage this year,but the difference between the two was evident.Anandabazar had painstaking district coverage while The Telegraph focused on the taste of its metropolitan audience.

An important aspect of difference was the political stories in The Telegraph and The ABP related to the Pujas. On the 12th of October The Telegraph had stories on ‘ Maoist demon stalks Lalgarh Pujas’ on how this year pujas were affected due to the Maoists scare. There was another story on how the ‘ Trinamool Congress-run municipality is hindering the Pujas backed by the Left’. ABP on the other hand, on its front page on the 13th had a story from the area of the Maoists, calling it a different puja. This was a story about a resident of Salboni in Maoists infested West Midnapur district , who was killed by the Maoists’ and how his family copes with the loss this Puja. There was also a front page close up view of Goddess Durga from old North Kolkata in Bagbazaar. One story was on the unknown rural artisans working in Kolkata pandals, whereas another story from Bongaon, North 24 Paraganas, focused on the police distributing clothes during Pujas, to the villagers in the border district.

The Telegraph after sashthi, that is the sixth day of the Puja, had dedicated almost the entire metro segment of four pages with additional supplement of four pages to the Puja Pandals. The English daily ran a contest for Puja Pandals called ‘The Telegraph hand in hand’ in association with other corporate houses, that got a photo opportunity in the paper. This contest was for the ‘housing Complexes Pujas’ whereas another puja pandal competition was also being held by the daily, called ‘True spirit Pujas’. So the entire metro pages for the next four days were focused exclusively on the Pujas. Stories like ‘pregnant women opting for an auspicious day for the birth of their child’ to Vidya Balan in Kolkata’s puja, to Pandal hoppers opting Panchami , Shashthi, ‘ puja in housing complexes’ all made for a perfect puja coverage theme for the English daily.

An interesting factor about ABP was that they had a front page column called ‘ Onno Pujo’ ( different Pujas) about ‘ Pujas for different people of a different world’. It carried stories focused on different human interest stories from the districts to the likes of ‘either a tale of the Gyaneshwari train mishap victim’ or the story of a cart puller playing ‘ Shehnai in Puja pandals’ in Katua, Burdwan district.

A story on the idol of Goddess Durga in her tribal avatar from the far-off Maoist affected Jhargram area also made an interesting piece during the Pujas. ‘Sarbodol uddyoge ashuk shanti, barta onno durgar‘ (‘The other Durga asks for peace with efforts from all parties’), read the story of the ‘adivasi Durga’ carrying the flags of all political parties yearning for peace. Another feature story from Kalna, Burdwan was on how the Puja extravaganza was being curtailed to help a rural needy boy.

Both ABP and The Telegraph had stories from across the border. But while the ABP had a story of communal harmony and pandal hopping in Bangladesh, TheTelegraph had the story of the idol maker from Kolkata who bagged a contract from his ancestral place in Bangaldesh to make the idol this Puja season.

It was only on the nineth day of the Pujas that The Telegraph had photos and pictures from across the districts extensively in their Bengal page in the main newspaper.

Even though the newspapers were shut on ‘Vijay Dashmi’ the tenth day of the Durga Puja, and there was no edition the following day, on the 19th The Telegraph had stories on the immersion of the idols in Kolkata. ABP on the other hand had stories ‘on immersion with photo from Bangladesh’, to another story on ‘ waste rules’ covering Bengal.

Both the papers carried one or two small puja related stories even after the VijayDashmi. But what was interesting about their different outlook in coverage were stories to the run up to the Kali puja and Deewali. While ABP carried on with its wider Bengali readership focus, The Telegraph continued with its cosmopolitan metro readers. On the 4th of November ABP, had a story from Murshidabad on a pandal that had thirty different idols of Kali being worshiped by thirty different priests. They carried stories on Kali, the Goddess of Power and how the city of Kolkata was geared up for the festival of lights. On Deepawali day, The ABP had a photo of Dakshineshwar Temple lit up for the ‘Kali Puja’.

To sum up, although both the papers dedicated ample space for the Puja and festive coverage but the difference was that the ABP knew its widespread Bengali readership and tried to reach out to it. While The Telegraph catered to its English reading cosmopolitan readership based out of Kolkata and urban India.