Kolkata, India: Tapas Pal has been making clay idols of assorted gods and goddesses for the final 20 years in Kumartuli, a standard middle of potters in Kolkata, within the japanese Indian state of West Bengal.
The 42-year-old, who makes six-metre-high idols from unfired clay, instructed Al Jazeera that he would usually don’t have any free time within the two months main as much as Durga Puja, the state’s greatest competition. since it could meet the deadline to ship the idols to the competition organizers.
However this yr the state of affairs is totally totally different, he says, with fewer orders and diminished budgets, as metropolis residents are in no temper for festivities after the brutal rape and homicide of a 31-year-old physician at RG Kar Hospital. , administered by the federal government, on August 9.
“The competition presents [a] a part of our annual enterprise and we anticipate excessive returns. However this time there may be nearly no enterprise as a result of critical protests within the state,” and his enterprise has been diminished by two-thirds, he mentioned.
Durga Puja is a 10-day worship of the Hindu goddess Durga to have fun her victory over a shape-shifting demon who embodies pleasure. Durga is likely one of the strongest goddesses in Hinduism. She represents the facility of girls and her legend focuses on her means to defeat evil. In 2021, Durga Puja in Kolkata was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity listing.
Within the run-up to the competition, artisans spend months making idols of Durga, proven as a phenomenal lady using a lion or tiger, with many arms, every carrying a weapon used to destroy evil. The idols, which frequently depict a part of this battle, are painstakingly hand-painted, superbly dressed, jeweled and displayed within the pandals.
The state is paralyzed within the days main as much as the festivities, that are scheduled to start on October 9 of this yr. Colleges and places of work shut and other people pandal-hop – a convention by which individuals go to a number of idol websites to supply prayers and eat prasad – as neighborhoods compete for the largest, fanciest idols and decorations.
Final yr, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee estimated the competition financial system to be round Rs 840 billion ($10 billion).
However it’s unclear whether or not this yr’s figures will even come near that, as individuals are nonetheless in shock after the physique of a trainee physician was discovered on the authorities hospital with a number of accidents. Hospital authorities initially instructed his dad and mom that he had dedicated suicide. However an post-mortem revealed that she had been raped and murdered.
Police have since arrested Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer on the hospital who had unfettered entry to the ward the place the physician labored, and 4 others, together with former school principal Dr Sandeep Ghosh and a police officer. police.
The brutality of the crime and accusations of apathy on the a part of the state administration have shocked residents who’ve taken to the streets in protest, particularly as town prided itself on being protected for girls.
Activists say the physician’s rape and homicide confirmed how girls in India proceed to face sexual violence regardless of stricter legal guidelines launched after the 2012 gang rape and homicide of a 23-year-old scholar in a bus in New Delhi, the nationwide capital.
Crimes towards girls in India rose 4 p.c in 2022 from the earlier yr, information from the Nationwide Crime Data Bureau (NCRB) launched late final yr confirmed.
To this point, Banerjee’s plea for individuals to return to festivities has yielded no outcomes.
Quite the opposite, locals have change into emotionally connected to the sufferer’s household after the daddy broke down in a tv interview, saying that nobody would wish to have fun the vacation this yr and that anybody who does won’t have fun with pleasure.
The gloomy ambiance has affected a number of hundred artisans and businessmen who rely on the competition for his or her livelihood.
Enterprise ‘ruined’
Artisans say the incident couldn’t have occurred at a worse time as a number of organizers place orders for idols within the second or third week of August yearly and have diminished or stopped them altogether.
“The incident is unlucky and condemnable. We demand strict punishment for the perpetrators of the crime and justice for the sufferer’s kinfolk. However the timing coincided poorly with our peak season which utterly ruined our enterprise this yr,” Subhendu Pal, 52, an idol maker in Kumartuli, instructed Al Jazeera.
Subhendu Porel, 35, who makes polystyrene ornamental gadgets for pandals, mentioned enterprise had greater than halved.
“There may be hardly any enthusiasm amongst individuals for the competition. We normally go to different states throughout this season to make ornamental gadgets as we have now a excessive demand. However this time, individuals from different states haven’t come to simply accept us for his or her work for worry [the] deterioration of the regulation and order state of affairs right here. Evidently the competition this yr is only a formality and nothing extra,” Porel mentioned.
Prabhakar Porel, 32, a craftsman who designs the bamboo buildings used to help the pandals, mentioned: “We make tents that attain a peak of 60 ft.” [18 metres]however organizers are lowering orders to 30 ft [nine metres] and even much less so as a result of funds constraints are an issue this time. “Sponsors are usually not keen to spend, feeling wholeheartedly the dangerous temper that reigns within the state,” he mentioned.
State subsidies decreased
In West Bengal, round 43,000 Durga Pujas are celebrated in neighborhood golf equipment yearly, 3,000 of that are held in Kolkata alone. The state authorities presents 70,000 rupees ($840) to golf equipment to prepare the competition every year, an quantity that was elevated to 85,000 rupees ($1,013) this yr.
However a number of golf equipment, bewildered by the incident, have rejected the subsidy, in flip limiting their spending capability.
Apart from state subsidies, a big portion of the competition’s prices are borne by sponsors akin to native and nationwide corporations in alternate for the promotion of their manufacturers. Relying on the dimensions of these promised funds, organizers akin to golf equipment order idols, decorations, meals stalls, amongst different issues. The signal of low participation within the festivities could trigger a few of them to withhold or scale back their guarantees.
Avishek Bhattacharyya, an government committee member of the Durgotsab Discussion board, an umbrella physique for greater than 600 competition organizers within the state, instructed Al Jazeera {that a} boycott could be disastrous for the competition.
“Conversations with sponsors… happen a number of months prematurely. There isn’t a query of backing out as organizers determine their funds primarily based on promised sponsorship. But when he [sponsors] Going again now, it could be a giant drawback for the organizers to clear the charges of the idol makers, decorators and others concerned in it. A number of individuals will lose their livelihood,” Bhattacharyya warned.
Professor Mahalaya Chatterjee of the economics division on the College of Calcutta admitted that the festivities may very well be drastically impacted within the context of the protests. “Unquestionably, wholesale purchases shall be diminished to a minimal and that may be a extreme financial blow for these concerned within the enterprise. [If] the festivities endure, that may have an effect on the meals stalls and different itineraries through the vacation,” he mentioned.
Absent Patrons
The influence of the protests can also be palpable within the industrial areas of Kolkata, that are devoid of shoppers.
“A month earlier than the competition, individuals begin shopping for garments and different gadgets to keep away from [the] final minute rush. The shops are full of shoppers and there’s no place to lean. Gross sales generate large earnings for retailers. However the RG Kar incident has devastated us financially,” mentioned Maqsood Khan, secretary of Shreeram Arcade store homeowners affiliation, which has round 250 outlets out there.
“There are virtually no consumers on the streets and merchants have to attend till the afternoon to get their first sale of the day,” lamented Khan.
The purchasing arcade has prolonged its closing hours by one hour till 10:00 p.m., however there are nonetheless no clients. “The state of affairs is worse than post-Covid, the place gross sales began as soon as pandemic-induced restrictions have been eased,” he mentioned, including that his losses may quantity to Rs 100 million ($1.2 million). .
Yearly, Durga Puja additionally attracts vacationers from different components of India in addition to overseas. This has additionally been affected this yr.
Koushik Banerjee, founding father of Supreme Excursions and Travels in Kolkata, instructed Al Jazeera that there’s a drastic drop within the variety of vacationers coming to the state. “There may be already [a] 50 p.c drop in vacationer arrivals, which has critically affected our enterprise,” he mentioned.
That is already taking its toll on the hospitality trade, the place gross sales are down 15 p.c to this point. “Our member eating places did a enterprise of round Rs 18 billion. [$215m] in West Bengal final yr throughout a month-long competition. Even in lodges, the enterprise was round Rs 15 billion. [$179m]. However this yr there may be uncertainty,” mentioned Sudesh Poddar, president of the Japanese India Resort and Restaurant Affiliation.
Idol maker Pal feels the injury has already been accomplished and the competition is unlikely to generate enthusiasm. “The younger technology takes [an] They actively take part within the festivities, however everyone seems to be busy protesting and never within the temper to add pictures of rejoicing on social networks. Earlier, they used to come back to Kumartuli to take pictures of us throughout idol making yearly, however this time nobody will come and it exhibits the unhappy temper within the metropolis. The competition will happen in silence.”
