Malda, Jan 29, 2020: A private college managed by Muslims in West Bengal on January 29 hosted Saraswati Puja, a Hindu ritual, for the 13th time since its foundation.
Farookh Hossein Khan, principal in charge of North Malda Teachers’ Education College, says 70 percent students in his institution are Hindus. “We have been holding Saraswati Puja ever since the college was set up in 2008,” he explained.
“My wife, Jahida Khatun, the president of the managing committee, is the driving force behind the puja,” Khan said.
Muslims form 51 percent of Malda’s population, according to 2011 census.
The self-financed institution has around 400 students.
This year the ritual made a sharp departure from convention. Instead of a Brahmin priest, a woman from the other backward class community performed the rituals.
“Sulata Mondal, who performed the puja, used to be my classmate in college. She underwent formal training for priests,” said Khan.
Mondal underwent training at camps organized by a far-right Hindutva group, Singhabahini that ran into controversy several times in the past. “For us it is a matter of pride that Mondal performed the puja,” said Devdutta Maji, head of Singhabahini.
Most guests at the puja were members of the Salthal, Kurmi and other tribal communities. “About 10 sq km area around our college primarily has tribal population. More than 500 people from these villages had lunch and prasad (food offered to the goddess),” said Khan.
In sharp contrast to the puja at the Malda college, students at the government-aided Chauhata Adarsha Vidyapith in the Haroa area of Basirhat in North-24 Parganas district were not allowed to perform the puja. They held an agitation outside the school on January 29.
Some students were allegedly beaten up by locals on January 24 when they staged a roadblock, demanding that Saraswati puja be resumed at the school.
The protesting students included girls from the junior section. The puja was stopped, allegedly under pressure from local people, in 2009, the year Chauhata Adarsha Vidyapith turned 50. About 75 percent of the 1,700-odd students are Muslims while most teachers are Hindus.
On January 27, local people and parents of the students lodged a written complaint at Haroa police station. The next day, they submitted a memorandum to the headmaster, Himangshu Sekhar Mondal, demanding resumption of the puja, ban on entry of outsiders, safety of students and installation of security cameras.
Mondal told the Hindustan Times that the puja was stopped in 2009 under disturbing circumstances when local people and students objected to holding Nabi Diwas in the school. “To ensure peace, some residents of this area and the school authorities decided not to hold either inside the premises,” he said.
Source: hindustantimes.com