Remembering Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan

Remembering Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan

                                           Jawhar Sircar

               BV Keskar was Pandit Nehru’s Information Minister for a whole decade, from 1952 to 1962.  For him, Hindi film songs were a strict ‘no-no’ where Akashvani was concerned, as in his opinion, it should be the mission of the public broadcaster, to encourage only classical music. He had to face a lot of pressure and ridicule for this rather obdurate stand, but there is no doubt that had it not been for him, Indian classical music may have never reached and enthralled the common man, because classical music by its very nature was meant primarily for the elite.

          One of the several methods that Keskar introduced to popularise classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, was by starting the long tradition of organising the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan. It all that started with a three-day concert on the 23^rd of October, 1954, at Sapru House, New Delhi. This year will mark the 64^th year of this festival that has helped so much in popularising Shastriya Sangeet and make it an integral part of India’s composite culture.  Keskar felt the government had to intervene to help India’s classical tradition because Pandits and Ustads were losing the support of numerous princes, rajas and nawabs who had to integrate their ‘princely states’ with the new Republic of India. Everyone was really very worried lot. We must remember that in the 1950s and 1960s, there were very few cities that had institutions for the public funding and  organising music annual concerts. Though the Presidency towns of Madras, Calcutta and Mumbai had their own version of the “All India Music Conference” in the early decades of the 20^th century, like Ramaswami Iyer’s AIMC and Music Academy of 1927-28 in Madras, support to classical music remained rather sporadic and uncertain. North Kolkata had a tradition started in (sayI Pathuriaghata and the Dover Lane Music Conference had commenced from 1952, but not every town was so lucky.

Keskar’s message was simple: the State would take over the role of princely patrons and ensure fair play, through a system of ‘grading’ artistes to ensure that the best received their just dues.  It was not absolutely perfect, but at least there was now a transparent system in position.  Keskar had started first with the National Music Programme and then branded the Akashvani Sangeet Sammlen into a reliable and steadfast patron of the arts. Initially, only music experts of international renown were invited and these concerts were broadcast live, but as the Sammelan spread to other important cities of India, AIR decentralised its broadcast and dissemination, to its regional networks and Akashvani reached the common man in his home, as classical music never had, hitherto before. Regional classical artistes vied with each other to participate in this grand exercise. But what was more important was the preservation of these invaluable recordings and Akashvani archives thus served as the repository of the nation’s cultural wealth. Just as Vividh Bharati played a sterling role in ‘democratising’ popular music among the masses, Akashvani’s Sangeet Sammelan did wonders for classical music. 

 Old timers recall how the legendary Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was unable to participate as his health was failing fast, but almost every famous vocalist or musician was indeed honoured to be chosen to perform for this Sammelan.  Top-Grade and A-Grade artistes made it a point to perform in as many festivals as possible, and even now many look back and still complain that they had not been invited as many times as they deserved. India’s musical legends are available to us today though recordings of their performances at the Sammelans.  I mention a few who are with us no more: M S Subbulakshmi, D V Paluskar, Amir Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Bhismillah Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Kumar Gandharva, Mallikarjun Mansoor, Gangubai Hangal, Acharya Brahaspathi, Bhimsen Joshi, V G Jog, S Balachander, Shemangudi Srinivas, G N Balasubramanyam et al. The best renditions of living legends like Pandit Jasraj, Bala Muralikrishna, Kishori Amonkar, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Debu Choudhary, Amjad Ali Khan, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, T N Krishna, Hari Prasad Chaurasi and Shiv Kumar Sharma, are now part of AIR’s archival masterpieces.

Those were the golden days of Akashvani before television captured the imagination of the nation.  But artistes continued to perform even after Doordarshan splashed with colour in 1982 and came up with memorable programmes.   It became an accepted practice to begin this Sammelan on the same day, in mid-October each year though a few were held as late as December because sarkari funds were not available.  The number of days was, however, reduced in the late 1980s from three to just one as it was becoming increasingly unmanageable and costly. 

While some events have a mixture of Hindustani and Carnatic classicals, there are eight events meant only for Hindustani classical music and there are four concerts reserved for Carnatic in the south. A judicious mix between the seniors and the relatively junior artistes is another practice of these Sammelans. Those who are senior artistes of today recall with pride how they had performed on the same stage as veritable legends. Flipping through the brochure of 1987, one sees veterans  like Sharan Rani, , Ali Ahmad Hussian, C R Vyas, Bimal Mukherjee, Basavraj Rajguru, T.V.Soundararajan, Ghulam Mustafa Khan rubbing shoulders with un-recognisable young faces like Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Buddhaditya Mukherjee, Parveen Sultana as well as the child-like face of L Subhramanyam.

Anecdotes are in plenty. When Savita Devi, the renowned vocalist, ended her performance at Vadodara in the late hours of the night, the audience simply refused to get up, even after repeated requests that the evening had ended. Savita Devi had no option but to continue playing for about an hour more, until, the crowd was satisfied. 

Arvind Parikh still remembers how he was signalled desperately by Gajanand Rao Joshi at the Indore Sammelan to literally race through the last part of his recital, as he was to make space for Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai. Joshi’s watch was running much too fast and it was only when the audience greeted Gajanandji’s announcement with laughter, that he looked at his watch and went red in the face.

Shanno Khurana recalls how she was hijacked overnight to perform in Lucknow in the mid 80s, because Madhuri Mattoo could not appear, and after a very satisfying performance she went home.  It was then that she received a panic call from the Programme Officer that the recording equipment had failed and they would lose their jobs if she did not come to the studio once again and re-do the entire performance, from memory.  How official records were fudged and the sound of the audiences’ claps brought in at the right intervals remain, however, a matter of mystery.

          After the digitization and the complete commodification of music nowadays, we have a greater choice to access music but every day listeners in millions prefer Indian classical music. Today, so many decades later, when we take classical music for granted, we must recall how precarious were the early years after Independence, when a new nation called India struggled to form its identity in the family of nations. It had not only to to rediscover its past glory in music but also improvise new means to ensure that every citizen was aware of its heritage and then take an informed choice. The role of the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan has surely come down in the last few decades but we have to remember the critical role that BV Keskar and his Akashvani played — even long after he left — to ensure that the great classical tradition was embedded in the public mind. And also, the knowledge that royalty enjoyed in the past was available to the common man — as democracy ruled over sound waves.

Durga Through Curious Eyes — How British Viewed the Pujas in old Calcutta

 Durga Through Curious Eyes

— How British Viewed the Pujas in old Calcutta

    Jawhar Sircar

          ‘The Sunday Statesman’, Miscellany 23  September 1984

When first British merchants entered Bengal in the seventeenth century and came in contact with Hindu religious festivals, their initial reaction ranged from curious appreciation to outright horror. The strange deities, the colourful costumes and the cacophony of weird flutes, pipes, cymbals and drums of all types, conjured an impression that evoked either admiration or disgust. One of the earliest accounts of the celebrations of Durga Puja that we get is from James Mitchell, clerk to a Sea Captain, who visited Calcutta in 1748. His diary notes of 29 August 1748 make interesting reading, though as P.T. Nair points out, Mitchell had mistaken Durga for Jaggannath. A few years before, an Englishman had published a grotesque description of the Puri festival, which was fresh in Mitchell’s mind. Here  is  an  excerpt  from  his note, in  the  style  of   mid-eighteenth century English where ‘Gentoo’ means ‘Hindu’ and ‘Chintz’ refers to a colourful cloth. During that period, capital letters appeared quite differently and so, I have kept it that way. 

"In September, the Gentoo's grand annual Feast was celebrated by every individual that, by parsimony and hoarding throughout the year, could afford the expense; a great emulation prevailing on that occasion to excel in show and splendour. At the upper end of a large oblong half decorated with figured Chintz hangings, large wax candles and such on a Pedestal raised from the Floor by a flight of Steps under a Canopy with Curtains of rich silk or Chintz is placed a hideous figure of painted wood superbly dressed with Jewels, Pearls and ca. to represent their favourite Deity. On each side of the hall are covered Tables with benches, furnished with all the delicacies of the Country; and one with the choicest Viands and Liquors for such Europeans as are admitted.

"When a Gentoo enters, he approaches by the Area  in  the middle of the Hall with much seeming devotion to the foot of the Steps and having made a low obeisance and short Prayer retires to his place at one of theTables. Music, Dancing Girls with every Festivity that can be devised is exhibited for two days; On the third the Idol is placed in a Budjero or Barge, with a procession of much pomp, accompanied with the country music and embellished with Flags, Streamers, and ca. and rowed to the middle of the River, covered with numbers of the same description; the air resounding with music, blazing with Fireworks and roaring with repeated discharges of  Cannon until the whole is concluded by loud acclamations on throwing Jagernaut with all his ornaments from each Budjero into the Ganges the water of which is deemed sacred; it would be considered Sacrilege in a Gentoo to touch any of the floating Idols or their ornaments; but Mahometans and other sectarys think it no impiety to strip them of such ornaments as they judge worth saving and afterwards to split  and burn the Image".

Towards the close of the 18th century, we have a French Army Officer, L De Grandpre, who visited Calcutta in 1789 and 1790, giving us a graphic, albeit exaggerated narrative:

"This madam Dourga, who has deified the Ganges, is held in great veneration: festival is celebrated every year in the month of October, and while it lasts, nothing is known but rejoicing; the native visit each other, and on three successive evening assemble together for the adoration of their divinity. Her statue is placed in a small niche of clay, which is gilt and adorned with flower pieces of tinsel, and other similar ornaments. The statue itself is dressed in the most magnificent attire they can procure, is about a foot high, and the niche with its appendages about 3 feet and half.

“All the rich celebrate a festival of this kind in their own houses, and are ambitious of displaying the greatest luxury, lighting up their apartments in the most splendid manner. Such as cannot afford to observe this solemnity at their own house, go to that of some neighbour; there is one of these celebration at least in every quarter of the town, so that all the inhabitants have an opportunity of paying their devotions.

"The room is furnished with seats for the guests, and the statue is placed on a small stage concealed by a curtain, as in our public theatres. The curtain being drawn up by the servants, a  concert begins, in which the principal instrument is a sort of bagpipe. The reed of this not being flexible, and the performer being wholly ignorant how to modulate its tone, nothing can be less musical than the sound it produces, unless it be the tunes that are played upon it: the most vile and discordant clarinet is melody itself compared with this instrument, which would literally split the ears of any other audience".

          This was exactly one hundred years after Job Charnock had landed and the British had settled down quite comfortably. By this period, the East India Company had declared  Calcutta as the capital and the undisputed centre of English possessions in the eastern part of the world. By the early part of the 19^th century, when Ram Mohun had not yet become a “raja’ and Hindu College was just about to be set up, Durga Puja had acquired the stature of the major festival of the year in Calcutta. It was accompanied by unprecedented pomp and pageantry and let us see a clipping from a contemporary newspaper:

"DURGA PUJA"

Calcutta Gazette, 20th October 1814: "The Hindu holidays of the Doorga Poojah began yesterday and will continue until the 25th instant. Many of the rich Hindoos, vying with one another in expense and profusion, endeavour by the richness of their festivals to ‘get a name amongst men’. The principal days of entertainment  are the  20th, 21st and 22nd, on which Nikhee, the Billington of the East, will warble her lovely ditties at the hospitable mansion of Raja Kishun Chand Roy and his brothers, the sons of the late Raja Sookh Moy Roy. Nor will the hall of Neel Money Mullick resound less delightfully with the affecting strains of Ushoorun, who, for compass of voice and variety of note, excels all damsels of Hindusthan. Misree, whose graceful gestures would not hurt the practiced eye of Parisot, will lead the fairy dance on the boards of Joy Kishun Roy's happy dwelling. At Raja Raj Krishna's may be viewed with amazement and pleasure, the wonderful artifices and tricks of legerdemain of an accomplished set of jugglers, first arrived from Lucknow.

“Baboo Gopee Mohun Deb, urged by his usual anxiety to contribute to the amusement of the public, has, besides a selection of the most accomplished nautch girls, engaged a singularly good buffoon, whose performances and those of a boy, who has the uncommon faculty of being able to dance with impunity on the naked edge of two sharp swords, make claim title of unique. Besides these, the respective residences, of Baboo Gopee Mohun Thakoor and  Gooroo Pershad Bhose have each its individual cause of attraction and promise to repay by a full measure of delight those who are content to forsake the calm repose of peaceful slumbers for the hum on men and squeeze of crowded assemblies".

The description of how decadence had set in and how dancing girls were the greater attraction, not Maa Durga, is clear from this description. The decades that followed in the 19^th century were also remarkable for reformers like Ram Mohun demanding reforms in Hinduism and radicals like  Derozio agitatating his students of Hindu (Presidency) College to revolt against such degeneration. This is when genuine  introspection of their religion had gripped many educated Bengali Hindus, who had started public debates. These would ultimately lead to several socio-religious reforms and to the banning of  heinous practices, like infanticide and the burning of the widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. But where the nouveau riche Bengali ‘babu’ was concerned, he appeared more interested in establishing his superiority over his rivals in the battle of ostentatious entertainment.

Another description of the festivities that appeared on the 12^th October, 1826, in the ‘Hurkaru’ reads  as follows:

"The splendid mansion of Baboo Gopee Mohun Deb, during the annual festival of Doorga Pooja, is the Theatre of many a novel spectacle; his hospitality is surpassed by none, and he seldom spares any expense in providing for the gratification of his guests. On Monday evening last he entertained a very large company of Ladies and Gentlemen of distinction. Among the amusements provided for the occasion, was a dance by some Burmese females. The group was composed of eight blooming girls all in their teens, direct from the Empire of the Golden Foot; and they tripped it (we won't say on the light fantastic toe) but with a degree of grace and agility seldom equalled by the fair of Hindostan; the dancing was accompanied by a song and the chorus which seemed intelligible to none but themselves."

The ‘Friend of India’ reported that some seven thousand images of the goddess were made for the Puja in 1839 in Calcutta and about twenty five Lakh rupees were spent. Rich individuals, however, continued their display of opulence. An advertisement that appeared on September 20, 1827, in the Calcutta Gazette will bear ample testimony:

“GRAND NAUTCHES

Doorga Pooja Holidays BABOO PRANKISSEN HOLDAR of Chinsurah

Begs to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen, and the Public in General, that he has commenced giving a Grand Nautch from this day, that it will continue till the 29th Instant. Those Ladies and Gentlemen who have receive Invitation Cards, are respectfully solicited to favour him with their Company on the    days mentioned above; and those to whom the Invitation Tickets have not been sent (strangers to the Baboo) are also respectfully solicited to favour him with their  Company.

"Baboo Prankissen Holdar further begs to say, that every attention and respect will be paid to the Ladies and Gentlemen who will favour him with their Company, and that he will be happy to furnish then with Tiffin, Dinner, Wines,&c., during their stay there.

PRANKISSEN HOLDER

Chinsurah,

September14, 1827".

Ironically enough, this Pran Kissen Holder was to be convicted for forgery and sentenced for seven years, hardly a couple of years after this announcement. His property was also put up for auction and it reminds us that times may have changed but neither has human habit nor has fate.

But how did the Sahibs take it all this showering of hospitality and the invitations to pagan festivals, so full of wine and women? We have accounts of most of them making best use of the hospitality offered, even though many loathed the entire celebration. And editorial piece that appeared on fifth of October,  1829,  in  the  ‘Calcutta  Gazette’  will  make  the  attitude of better-placed Englishman clear:

"These festivals caused enormous sums and the numbers who attend them are generally vary great; but of late years a falling off has been observed in both respects — a degree of lukewarmness in short, whence it is inferred that the better educated classes of Natives no longer entertain the same sentiments on the subject as were formerly prevalent. Once in a way on the principle of seeing everything that is to be seen in a foreign country, an European may derive amusement from a Nautch — but on the whole it is, at best, but an insipid and monotonous exhibition."

The Puja Holidays had also come to be accepted as a way of life among the Company's servants in Bengal, as an escape from the monotonous grind of daily routine. Mr. J.H. Stocqueler, founder editor of ‘The Englishman’ (later to become ‘The Statesman’) wrote about his experiences in Bengal in the 1830s and 1840s. Let us glance at an extract from his "Social Life in Calcutta":

"But what are termed Doorga Pooja holidays, which usually commence about the middle of September and last eight or ten days, from the period of time which admits extended excursions of almost  all classes of men of business from the metropolis, and there is much deadness then in Calcutta as there in London at or near the same time of the year. The Hindoo natives lay aside all kind of business, save what daily necessity renders it indispensable to pursue, and shops and offices are shut up, or their trading hum and bustle all but stagnated, while that great religious ceremonial is in course of being observed.

"Then the European merchant, the clerk, the official, the lawyer, the shopkeeper and artisan, all absent themselves, some for several days and some for a few weeks, in the certainty that competition cannot be active while they are gone, and that the general stagnation is such that little could be profited by their remaining at their business. Pinnaces and budgerows (bajras or luxury boasts) are then hired for trips into the Mofussil, and the exploring citizen, who gets the hundred miles inland, fills from that our at liberty to relate, when he revisits England, that he has travelled into the interior of India and surveyed men and manners in the ruralities of our empire".

But whatever be the attitude of the Englishmen, the Bengali  babu was having a field day. With increasing acceptance of  Community Pujas came the privilege of raising subscriptions from the public at large — a power that was often misused, just as it is done nowadays. The ‘Calcutta Courier’ of 1840 reports:

“In consequence of the oppressive extortions of money by some young men belonging to a famous family of Bihala, of Zillah 24-Parganas, under the pretext of meeting the expenses of a Barrowarry Poojah, it was impossible for anybody, especially females, to pass that road in a conveyance  without satisfying their unjust and illegal demands. When they happened to see a woman coming in a palanqueen, they immediately stopped it  and if a handsome present was not offered, a volley of abuse was heaped on the poor creature. As women, from a sense of decency and decorum, were unable to resist these demands, they were sometimes compelled to give their clothes and ornaments when they had no money about them".

We see, therefore, that extortion of money is an old tradition and existed even two centuries ago. As British rule in India was soon converted from a colony under the East India Company to an ‘empire’ under Queen Victoria, exhibitionism by unscrupulous babus went up for a few decades but ultimately Durga Puja became the collective show of the whole community, not just some rich families. It is, therefore,   Interesting to recall how the Hindu manners and customs as practiced then in Bengal were viewed by foreigners with a curious mix of discovery, wonder, repulsion, acceptance and adaptation.

The Importance of Being a Gently Spoken Prime Minister

The Importance of Being a Gently Spoken Prime Minister

Jawhar Sircar

The Wire, 21^st August, 2018

Fate, they say, leads a man to glory but hubris undoes what destiny confers. It is expected of those who are catapulted to the highest posts or even those who propel themselves to reach such historic heights to accept certain obligations. Among these, the most important is to conduct themselves in a manner befitting the post. If they cannot enhance its dignity, they are duty-bound not to devalue it. India has been lucky in this regard as every prime minister, except one, has acted his or her role in the manner expected – even when their personal inclinations appear to dictate otherwise. The much reviled Pandit Nehru was known to posses a short temper, but in public life he was the epitome of dignity. Frankly, it was he who set the benchmark and Atal Bihari Vajpayee took this decorum to new heights. It is in this context that we note with pain how the second prime minister from his party appears so insensitive to his responsibility to be gentle in public communication.

Never before has any prime minister’s statement in the Parliament been so hurting as to be expunged from its records. Though the press appears to have played it down – or was perhaps persuaded to do so – this apparently small incident will remain an indelible blot on our reasonably commendable history of parliamentary democracy. It is the same gentleman who began his parliamentary career by going to the other extreme, with his theatrical gesture of kissing the hopefully-sanitised floor of the Lok Sabha.

Cameras and practised oratory are not all that matter – people see through insincerity much more than what leaders think. On the August 9, he mocked B.K. Hariprasad, who had just lost the election as the opposition candidate for the post of deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha. It was a wordplay on his name – which he had no business to do – and someone needs to tell him that these are considered juvenile acts. Every one of the countless government schemes that he has marketed in his regime, most of which are just repackages of old or existing ones, come in with acronyms that he then elaborates by playing on the alphabets – as if the whole nation were a kindergarten class. All of Delhi knows how his fawning advisors and his well-paid tag-line writers really sweat to keep up with his childish word games.

Someone else may have been ‘condoned’ but Narendra Modi appears to be a serial offender where insulting opponents is concerned. We can start with his long tenure in Gujarat but we would not like to remember the most tragic riots in which 790 Muslims (this is the official figure) were killed, reportedly without any support from the police or the administration. When asked about it in July 2013, Modi responded by saying that the driver or the passenger of a car cannot be blamed “if a puppy comes under the wheel”.

This terribly insensitive remark and the unfortunate comparison with the victim community created an uproar, but people soon moved on. He was a bit more cautious during his historic campaign for the 2014 elections but his numerous rallies were really tests of stamina and proof of his excellence as a mesmerising orator. Then came the Bihar elections in 2015 where he lost out to the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Yadav combine, but some BJP leaders were unhappy at Modi’s unwarranted aggression. Bhola Singh, BJP MP, openly declared that the prime minister’s “unparliamentary language” during the election campaign was one of the reasons why the BJP lost the Bihar battle.

No occasion stops those who belittle dignity, either their own or others. He did not sparethe retiring vice-president of India, M. Hamid Ansari and chose his sentimental farewell function to attack one of most dignified men in public affairs. In August 2017, Ansari had dared to mention that Muslims were feeling insecure, but was he really expected to say that they are happy with constant lynching? The manner in which the prime minister sought to run down Ansari’s long and successful diplomatic career in West Asia – the same area he himself pretends to cultivate through many of his innumerable foreign visits – sadly revealed perhaps his own poor upbringing. By ‘ghettoising’ Ansari’s association with the Aligarh Muslim university, he went out of the way to insult India’s senior-most Muslim, quite intentionally.

His conduct deteriorates even further when elections approach. In December of last year, Modi made a lot of very bitter comments – even though he managed to win Gujarat by a slender margin, mainly by splitting opposition votes. On December 10, he reached the rock bottom in public indignity when he accused former Prime Minister Manmohan Singhand the former vice-president of actually conspiring with the Pakistanis to upset the Gujarat elections. Obviously, Parliament was very upset and proceedings stalled – as MPs wanted the prime minister to prove his point.

When the matter began getting out of hand, the suave finance minister – who incidentally is liked by all for his dignified behaviour and pleasing manners – had to intervene. He clarified to the House that the PM “did not question, nor meant to question the commitment to this nation of either former PM Manmohan Singh or Former VP Hamid Ansari”. Arun Jaitley apologised and stated that “we hold these leaders in high esteem, as well as their commitment to India”. This saved the day but the PM did not come out with his own version of good behaviour. It is surprising that the man whose compulsory bear-hug of every foreign leader is such a public embarrassment – as many recipients are distinctly uncomfortable with it – could not reserve a few affectionate handshakes for the aggrieved opposition leaders.

But dignity cannot be forced – not even by the highest chair – if one is structured the wrong way and enjoys street language. During the Karnataka elections, Modi was back to his belligerent behaviour and what he said at a rally in Hubli on the May 6 this year is simply unpardonable. “Congress leaders should listen to me with open ears,” he stated, “if you cross your limits, this is Modi, you will have to pay”.

The attacked party complained to the President – what else could it do? We must remember that parliamentary democracy can only be sustained through some display of courteous behaviour in public life, whatever be our views. It is also time to give a message to those who choose to destroy the grand legacy that our forefathers have bequeathed us.

(This article was first published on Ananda Bazar Patrika in Bengali.)

(Please Click Here to readthe article on The Wire  website)

In West Bengal's Power Structure, Politics and Pujas Go Hand-in-Hand

In West Bengal's Power Structure, Politics and Pujas Go Hand-in-Hand

Jawhar Sircar

The Wire, 20^th August,2018

Ideological issues that drive regional parties are, by now, fairly well-known to those who may otherwise have little interest in either these causes or in the parties. The two DMKs in Tamil Nadu espouse Dravidian interests over ‘upper-caste hegemony’, the Shiv Sena cries for local Maharashtrians, the Asom Gana Parishad agitates for the true Assamese, the Akalis for Sikh interests, Mayawati for the Dalits and so on. But what exactly does the Trinamool Congress (TMC) stand for and how does it grow from strength to strength?

Now that it is abundantly clear that its leader strives for a far bigger role in national politics well beyond her own state and drops occasional hints about who should occupy India’s top post, we may as well take a look at her brand of politics. And since Bengalis are associated all the time with fish, football, politics and Durga Pujas, we may focus on two of these here – politics and Durga Pujas.

How Mamata Banerjee utilises Durga Pujas

Those who have observed Mamata Banerjee closely recall her single-minded obsession to oust the most well-entrenched party in India’s history, the CPI(M) – that ruled West Bengal for 34 long years, an all-India, all-time record. To understand how Banerjee did the impossible in 2011, we may give some credit to her astuteness in forming an alliance with her bête noir, the Congress, from which she broke off in 1997.

But to explain why she could capture six times the number of seats as compared to the last elections while her partner, the Congress, could only double their tally, one has to understand why she had branded her party as trinamool or ‘grass-roots’ and also see how she utilised Durga Pujas. As a street fighter, she had realised by 1997, when the Left Front celebrated 20 years of unbroken rule, that the traditional Congress would never be able to remove the Left. The latter had an unmatched and dedicated cadre at the level of the smallest spatial unit – the mohallah or paraa as it is called in Bengal. This ensured that every name on the electoral roll was under their scanner and those who had left either the locality or the world were their special targets. Critics say that their votes were cast by the Left ‘cadres’, who also ensured through various methods – from the seductive to the coercive – that voters did well to vote for them.

During my tenure as the chief electoral officer of the state during the 1998 and 1999 parliamentary elections, many leaders confided in me that ‘false voting’ was a zero-sum game: political parties actually negated each other’s gains and the ruling party gained but only marginally. Besides, after the introduction of the voter’s identity card and electronic voting machines – before they became suspect – false voting became really difficult as did ‘booth capturing’ and ‘booth jamming’.

The more important issue was that the Congress in the state just wilted on its own and withered once it was out of power for a decade and could no longer dole out patronage. Unlike the Marxists, it was not genetically programmed to be on 24×7 alert mode nor did it ever have so many supporters at the street, village or paraa levels who could be ‘looked after’ round the year. This is where local clubs and Durga Pujas came in handy to Mamata Banerjee, who needed a trinamool response. Since the Left had penetrated every organisation and had monopolised every occasion or event, except the religious, she got in through the only gap that appeared in the ‘Chinese wall’ of the Left – Durga pujas.

During the Left regime, local clubs also looked around desperately for political patronage, especially to negotiate with the local police and municipal authorities. Even as an opposition party, Trinamool Congress was capable of creating major disturbances anywhere anytime, and wiser local-level officials cooperated with their leaders. The Left government never bothered as it viewed these as petty religious indulgences, not anti-government agitations.

That base-level relationship is now ‘legitimised’ and the local councillor is undoubtedly the kingpin, whose spokes of power are the paraa clubs. A cosy relationship exists with the local police, the municipal and other inspectors and musclemen now that the high moralising of the Left Front is gone. These groups, often called ‘syndicates’, are not generally aggressive or overbearing – many actually look up to them. But the moment one needs a special dispensation like renovating or repairing one’s house or extending a portion – legally or illegally – or even building a new one, it has to be ‘permitted’ by the ‘local syndicate’. The same applies to businesses and hawkers in the locality, most of which operate on the margins of municipal, police and other regulations and many simply transgress all of them.

Power rests squarely with the local leader or the councillor or the MLA or syndicate boss – they are often the same person or part of a closely bonded brotherhood. When they are not, bloody turf wars rock the locality, and intra-party feuds are very much a part of toady’s Bengal. The model operates reasonably smoothly and has progressed a lot since local musclemen first appeared under the previous Left regime – who compelled land developers and promoters of buildings to source their supplies of brick, sand, stone chips and the like from them, or face consequences. Under the present dispensation, it has reportedly been ‘improved’ – to fixed rates per square feet thus built.

While newsmen report or bemoan the attention the CM gives to local clubs, few ever recall how they helped Banerjee in her days of struggle. This explains why she makes Herculean efforts every year to ‘inaugurate’ literally hundreds of Durga Puja pandals, spread over quite a few days, displaying her affection and strengthening her bonds with the organisers and the voters. This confers ‘legitimacy’ on them and passes on silently but effectively the desired message to local officials.

Incidentally, accounts till last year show that the state government has given well over Rs 600 crore to local clubs – for the ‘development of sports’, of course. We must put in a caveat here that not all local clubs are hers nor are all the pivot of the local syndicates. But, by and large, this holds good and the components of this architecture are constantly improved upon and re-engineered.

This year, for instance, many of her ministers and party leaders publicly ‘kick-started’ in quite a few localities the long-drawn process for the mega event of the year, the Durga Puja – through a previously innocuous religious event called Kunti Puja. Tapati Guha Thakurta has proven through her detailed research that Durga Pujas in Kolkata have become inextricably linked to political patronage. I agree, but my arguments are a bit wider – that these paraa clubs and pujas helped Mamata Banerjee craft a unique Bengal-specific strategy that won her the crown and, more importantly, that her power politics soon went beyond Durga Pujas.

‘Non-political’ nature of pujas in Bengal

Though Durga Puja pandals have already started choking several main public thoroughfares more than two months before the celebration, there are so many other gods and goddesses that are scheduled to be worshipped before Ma Durga arrives. There is Manasa puja, Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Vishwakarma puja, Jhulan jatra for Radha-Krishna, Rakhi and what not. No one even notices the irony of Sitala being worshipped on such a grand scale some 20 years after the eradication of smallpox. Even Shasti, the goddess of fertility and infants, now has a renewed lease of life through pre-natal and post-natal mortality rates have improved so drastically and birth control is a must. And then, a large number of village deities have also started migrating to the cities, just like Satyajit Ray’s Apu. Not only that, many of their images are now almost as big as Durga and festivities often continue for several days because indigenous deities have flexible rules that are less Brahmanical. In her last public address, the chief minister herself rattled out a never-ending list of gods and goddesses who are worshipped in Bengal at present.

Besides, gods and goddesses are now imported from other states as well. It began with Santoshi Ma and moved on to Ganesh, who is worshipped so increasingly and pompously that in a few years, Kolkata may rival Mumbai. In the last three years, Ram and Hanuman have also entered Bengal with a bang, literally. Of late, they are not mascots of just one political party – their worship has spread so much that their bitter political rival party is giving stiff competition. And this is precisely the point – politics – and we need to come to terms with this most visible assertion of power in West Bengal under Banerjee.

There are no ‘low key’ community pujas any more, and even Kali, Saraswati and Vishwakarma who trailed Durga by miles in the past are now big budget affairs. Kartik Puja is not rare anymore nor is it confined only to the ‘prohibited areas’ any more. And Shivaratri is not the quiet vow of some determined women, it is now a grand public event with music, lights and decoration. Even Shravan is becoming as much of a headache in Bengal as it is in north India, where boisterous Kanwariyas are a veritable threat to normal life – in trains, buses and to traffic as such. The question is: why so many?

My contention is that the more the number, variety and frequency of paraa pujas, the more does it help to democratise power within the localities and the party. Multiple pujas offer rival local leaders the opportunity to showcase their organisational skills and fund-raising capabilities. More pujas also help frequent connection with voters at the ‘non-political’ socio-religious level, where everyone is invited.

Needless to say, finances obviously flow in but what makes these pujas so popular is the free entertainment that they offer to the broadest base of the socio-economic pyramid in our towns and large villages. The clubs that organise these pujas compete with deadly seriousness to ensure as many evenings of popular music and performances as they can. The latest attractions are the prized ‘DJ nights’ and raucous, ear-shattering music. Since folk pujas are not bound by the tight, fixed dates of Durga Pujas, organisers book well-known singers or actors on mutually convenient dates.

This ‘staggered’ date system also means that people from different areas get a chance to enjoy the entertainment dished out by different clubs in other localities during the puja evenings. This is ‘critical’ business, as the prestige of the club is involved along with the local pride of the par, and the organisers go to great lengths to succeed. And then there is the bhog or the common feast that local leaders offer their core supporters or to their paraas, which again is an exercise in redistribution of economic gains. It fits in so well.

The upper layers of the society that complain about roads being blocked or the loud nature of these ‘subaltern celebrations’ need to realise the gradual takeover of both the spatial and aural worlds by a confident and assertive new class. It also indicates the shrinking domain of the erstwhile higher-educated ‘intellectual’ or better-off strata in the politics of the state. Those who feel disheartened with open political patronage may do well to recall that community pujas were invented for a political purpose – to mobilise mass support for the Congress. It all began in 1893, with Tilak’s experiment with public celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra. Then, in 1910, the first community Durga Puja was organised to coincide with the Congress session in Kolkata, with politics in mind. Mamata Banerjee is, after all, of the true Congress stock, and is more socialist than the Left Front, an aspect we did not dwell upon today.

(Please Click Here to readthe article on The Wire  website)