Early Durga Puja celebration in West Bengal with a grand rally: Mamata Banerjee
The Hindu
People sang and danced along the five-kilometre stretch from Joransanko Thakurbari to Red Road
With the ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’ being included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the autumn festival started early with the State on Thursday with the West Bengal government organising a rally to celebrate the global recognition.
Almost a month before the Durga Puja festival, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led a grand colourful rally in the city thanking UNESCO for including the festival in the coveted list. Thousands of people, which included the representatives of different clubs, participated in the rally singing and dancing along the five-kilometre stretch from Joransanko Thakurbari to Red Road.
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Durga Puja in Kolkata, a centuries-old tradition was inscribed in the list in December 2021. The festival has been described by the UN organisation “as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and as a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers”.
Speaking at the event in Kolkata, Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka said that he did not expect anything so big and had personally not seen such an enthusiasm around an inscription as he was witnessing, for inclusion in ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’. Durga Puja celebrates what is best about the intangible cultural heritage, Mr. Falt said adding that he would be back in the city later that month to participate in pre-puja festivities.
UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Secretary Tim Curtis said that in inscribing Durga Puja in Kolkata on the list the intergovernmental committee for safeguarding the intangible heritage noted, “Durga Puja has undergone positive change and inclusiveness such as through the transition in the public sphere as community pujas and transformation as a non- denominational community festival”.
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