Dark mood after a rape and murder in Calcutta mars Durga Puja celebrations | crime

Calcutta, India: Tapas Pal has been making clay idols of various gods and goddesses for two decades at Kumartuli, a traditional pottery center in Kolkata in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

The 42-year-old, who makes six-meter-tall idols from unfired clay, told Al Jazeera that he would not normally have any free time in the two months leading up to Durga Puja, the state's biggest festival. as he would meet the deadline for handing over the idols to the festival organizers.

But this year the situation is completely different, with fewer orders and reduced budgets as the city's residents are not in the mood for celebrations after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the state-run RG Kar Hospital on August 9.

“The festival offers [a] We make up a large portion of our annual business and expect high returns. But this time, due to the intense protests in the state, there is hardly any business,” and his business has dropped by two-thirds, he said.

Durga Puja is a 10-day worship of the Hindu goddess Durga to celebrate her victory over a shape-shifting demon and embodies joy. Durga is one of the most powerful goddesses in Hinduism. She represents the power of women and her legend revolves around her ability to defeat evil. In 2021, Durga Puja in Kolkata was added to UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In the run-up to the festival, artisans spend months making idols of Durga – depicted as a beautiful woman riding a lion or tiger, with many arms, each carrying a weapon meant to destroy evil. The idols that often represent a part of this battle are intricately hand-painted, beautifully dressed, adorned with jewels and displayed on the pandals.

There is a standstill in the state in the days leading up to the celebrations, which are scheduled to begin on October 9 this year. Schools and offices are closed and people resort to pandal hopping – a tradition in which people visit multiple venues housing the idols to offer prayers and eat prasad – as neighborhoods compete for the biggest and fanciest idols and decorations compete.

Last year, state minister Mamata Banerjee pegged the festival economy at about 840 billion rupees ($10 billion).

However, it is not clear whether the numbers will be anywhere near that high this year as people are still in shock after the body of a trainee doctor was found with multiple injuries at the government hospital. The hospital authorities initially informed her parents that she had died by suicide. But an autopsy revealed that she had been raped and murdered.

Since then, police have arrested Sanjoy Roy, a volunteer at the hospital who had full access to the ward where the doctor worked, and four others, including the college's former principal Dr. Sandeep Ghosh, and a police officer arrested.

The brutality of the crime and accusations of apathy on the part of the state administration shocked citizens who took to the streets in protest, especially as the city prided itself on being safe for women.

Activists say the doctor's rape and murder shows how women in India continue to face sexual violence despite tougher laws being introduced following the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in the national capital New Delhi in 2012.

The number of crimes against women in India rose 4 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released late last year.

Banerjee's plea to urge people to return to the celebrations has so far remained unsuccessful.

On the contrary, locals have emotionally connected with the victim's family after the father broke down in a television interview and said that no one wants to celebrate the festival this year and that anyone who does will not celebrate with joy.

The gloomy mood has affected several hundred artisans and entrepreneurs whose livelihoods depend on the festival.

Business “ruined”

Artisans say the incident couldn't have happened at a worse time as several organizers place orders for idols every year in the second or third week of August and have either scaled back or paused them altogether.

“The incident is regrettable and condemnable. We demand strict punishment for the perpetrators and justice for the victim's family. But the timing coincided badly with our peak season, which has completely ruined our business this year,” Subhendu Pal, 52, an idol maker in Kumartuli, told Al Jazeera.

Subhendu Porel, 35, who makes decorative Styrofoam items for pandals, said business has more than halved.

“People's enthusiasm for the festival is hardly there. We usually travel to other states this season to make the decorative items as there is a high demand for us there. But this time people from other states did not come out of fear to take us for their work [the] The law and order situation here is deteriorating. It seems that this year the festival is just a formality and nothing else,” Porel said.

Prabhakar Porel, 32, an artisan who designs the bamboo structures used to hold the pandals, said: “We make tents that reach up to 60 feet high.” [18 metres]but organizers are reducing orders to 30 feet [nine metres] and even less so since budget constraints are an issue this time. Sponsors are not ready to give their whole hearts to feel the gloom in the state,” he said.

State subsidies declined

In West Bengal, around 43,000 Durga Pujas are held by community clubs every year, including 3,000 in Kolkata alone. The state government offers clubs 70,000 rupees ($840) every year to organize the festival, but this year the amount was increased to 85,000 rupees ($1,013).

But several clubs, shaken by the incident, rejected the grant, which in turn limited their spending capacity.

Apart from government subsidies, a large part of the festival's costs are borne by sponsors such as local and national companies, who in return promote their brands. Based on the amount of money promised, organizers such as the clubs commission idols, decorations and food stalls, among other things. The hint of low participation in the celebrations could lead some of them to hold back or cut back on their promises.

Avishek Bhattacharyya, a board member of the Forum for Durgotsab, an umbrella group of more than 600 festival organizers in the state, told Al Jazeera that a boycott would be disastrous for the festival.

“The discussions with sponsors… take place several months in advance. There is no question of backing out as the organizers set their budget depending on the promised sponsorship. But if the [sponsors] To step down now would be a big problem for the organizers to clear the fees of the idol makers, decorators and other people involved. Several people will lose their livelihood,” Bhattacharyya warned.

Professor Mahalaya Chatterjee of Calcutta University's economics department admitted that the celebrations could suffer a major setback in the backdrop of the protests. “There is no doubt that bulk purchasing will be reduced to the bare essentials and that would be a major economic blow to those involved in the business. [If] “The celebrations will suffer, which would impact food stalls and other routes during the festival,” she said.

Buyer absent

The effects of the protests are also being felt in Calcutta's shopping areas with few customers.

“A month before the festival, people start buying clothes and other things that they should avoid [the] Last minute rush. The stores are full of customers and there is no place to hold on. The sales bring enormous income to the dealers. But the RG Kar incident has devastated us economically,” said Maqsood Khan, secretary of Shreeram Arcade Shopkeepers Association, which has around 250 shops in the market.

“There are virtually no buyers on the street and shopkeepers have to wait until the evening hours to make the first sale of the day,” lamented Khan.

The shopping arcade has extended its closing time by an hour to 10 p.m., but there are still no customers. “The situation is worse than after the COVID-19 crisis, when sales started after pandemic-related restrictions were lifted,” he said, adding that losses were up to 100 million rupees ($1.2 million). could be.

Every year Durga Puja also attracts tourists from other parts of India and abroad. That too suffered a setback this year.

Koushik Banerjee, the founder of Supreme Tours and Travels in Kolkata, told Al Jazeera that the number of tourists coming to the state has drastically reduced. “That already exists [a] 50 percent drop in inbound tourists, which has had a major impact on our business,” he said.

This is already putting a strain on the hospitality industry, where sales have so far fallen by 15 percent. “Our member restaurants had a turnover of around Rs 18 billion [$215m] last year during a month of the festival across West Bengal. Even in hotels, the business was around Rs 15 billion [$179m]. But this year there is uncertainty,” said Sudesh Poddar, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India.

Idol maker Pal feels the damage has already been done and the festival is unlikely to generate any buzz. “The younger generation is taking [an] They are actively taking part in the celebrations, but are all busy protesting and in no mood to upload jubilant pictures on social media. They used to come to Kumartuli every year to click our pictures during idol making, but this time no one is coming and this shows the sad mood in the city. The festival will pass quietly.”