RG Kar case: Kolkata-based club refuses Bengal govt Durga Puja donation

A Kolkata-based community Durga Puja committee, on Friday, rejected the annual Durga Puja donation given by the West Bengal government as a mark of protest against the rape and murder of a woman doctor at state-run R.G Kar Medical College & Hospital earlier this month.

“Mudiali Amra Ka Jan,” a community club operating out of the minority-dominated Garden Reach area in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, issued a statement announcing their decision on this count.

“We are not accepting the donation of Rs 85,000 given by the state government this year. We have taken this decision as a protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar on August 9. We want justice for the victim,” the statement read.

Rejecting state government donations, which has increased this year to Rs 85,000 from the previous year’s Rs 70,000, is fast becoming a popular pattern of peaceful protest against the rape and murder tragedy.

Earlier four clubs based out of Hooghly district announced the decision to reject the donations. Uttarpara Sakti Sangha Club based out of Uttarpara in Hooghly district was the first to refuse the same. Later, a community Durga Puja committee operated by women and also based out of Uttarpara followed the same line.

While refusing the donation, these Puja organisers admitted that although the decision might force them to curtail some expenditure, they decided to mark their protests in their own way.

Following the footsteps of the community Puja committees, a theatre group based out of Malda district in Bengal christened Malda Somobeta Prayash (Malda Combined Effort) too refused the state government donation for organising a “theatre fair” in the district. The donation amount in this case was Rs 50,000.

All the organisations that have refused the state government donation have started receiving public accolades on social media, with people requesting more such puja committees to come forward and set similar examples.

Trinamool Congress leadership has, however, issued an appeal not to link the R.G. Kar tragedy with the biggest festival in West Bengal. Forum for Durgotsab, an association of community Puja committees in the state too has issued a similar appeal.