Kolkata: After Durga Puja, Kali Puja, too, goes saffron.The organisers of several prominent Kali Pujas in the city, following in the footsteps of crowd-puller Durga Pujas, have invited CM Suvendu Adhikari to unveil the pandals or at least visit them at a convenient time.These include most of the star pujas in the Amherst Street area — Naba Yubak Sangha Fatakeshto puja, Jhamapukur Sarbojonin, Amherst Street Yuvasree and Young Sporting Club-organised Amherst Street Sadharan Sri Sri Kali Puja, known as Somen Mitra’s puja.The CM inaugurated the Jhamapukur Sarbojonin, Yuvasree and Amherst Street Sadharan pujas on Friday evening.Prabandha Ray, chief organiser of Fatakeshto Kali Puja, off Keshab Chandra Sen Street, had earlier said they had invited the CM to visit their pandal, but were yet to get any confirmation.“Celebrities used to inaugurate our puja earlier. Last year, we had thought about inviting then CM Mamata Banerjee, but it did not work out. This year, we sent an invitation to the CM’s office to inaugurate our puja,” the organiser had said.“We have invited the CM to visit our pandal. He may visit some other pujas in the Amherst Street area,” Tamoghna Ghosh, BJP’s North Kolkata district president and the key person behind Jhamapukur Sarbojonin, had said earlier. “Yuvasree, whose main organiser is minister Tapas Ray, has also invited the CM,” Ghosh had said. He was a patron of the Chorbagan Durga Puja, where a stampede claimed 19 lives.Jhamapukur Sarbojonin’s pandal is in Subol Chandra Lane, off Amherst Street, while a dais set up by the organisers for a musical programme occupies nearly half the width of Amherst Street. Almost all pujas in the area organise soirees, for which separate daises are set up.Janbazar Sammilita Kali Puja, organised by former Trinamool MLA Swarnakamal Saha and his MLA son Sandipan, has also invited Adhikari to unveil their pandal.During the Trinamool regime, then CM Mamata would always inagurate this puja.Salt Lake’s most high-profile puja, Maitri Sangha in BF Block, which used to be patronised by former Trinamool Congress MLA Sabyasachi Dutta till last year, is set to be inaugurated by CM Adhikari and panchayat minister Dilip Ghosh.“The former MLA had politised the puja,” said Raja Chakraborty, a senior member of the puja committee, referring to Dutta. “We will return to the sanatani roots and stick to rituals. There will be far more community participation this time. The cultural programmes will carry a flavour of Bengal, with Gambhira dancers from Malda and North Dinajpur set to perform,” Chakraborty said.The township’s oldest Kali Puja — on the Balaka ground in BD Block — has shed its association with former fire minister and Trinamool heavyweight Sujit Bose, who is now in jail. Bidhannagar MLA and state health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee and BJP Anupam Dutta are among the primary patrons of the puja this year.“Our puja, themed on rajbari (royal palace), will be inaugurated on June 7 by the health minister,” said Subir Dutta, secretary of the puja committee.CM Adhikari inaugurated the Kali Puja in Salt Lake GC Block on Friday evening. Health minister Mukherjee was a guest at the event. “We will strictly follow all sanatani rituals. For the first time, we will distribute Iskcon bhog from the pandal and will host aghori sadhus from Allahabad,” club secretary Sujoy Saha said.
