End protests, join Durga Puja festivity, Didi urges Kolkatans

Cornered by agitations sweeping the state demanding “justice” for the rape and murder of a young woman doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged people to give up protests and get into a festive mood for the Durga Puja celebrations next month.

The three-day festival, celebrated in West Bengal with great fanfare, will start from October 10. The day will mark two months of the rape-murder of the 31-year old junior doctor, whose body was found in the seminar hall of the medical college on August 9.

The protests have taken a toll on weavers and traders, who are witnessing low sale of sarees as the tragedy has cast a shadow on the Puja festivities, said sources in Kolkata. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata on Monday, Mamata urged people to call off protests and return to Durga Puja festivities. “There are protests every day, people get disturbed at night. One month has passed, I will appeal to people to return to Puja festivities,” Banerjee said.

Some of the Durga Puja organisers of the state have refused to accept the Rs 85,000 dole — Rs 15,000 more than last year — given by the state government to the organisers of Durga Puja this year. The clubs which have refused to accept the offer to protest the RG Kar incident include the high-profile Santosh Mitra Square Puja committee of Kolkata.