या कुन्देन्दुतुषारहारधवला या शुभ्रवस्त्रावृता
या वीणावरदण्डमण्डितकरा या श्वेतपद्मासना ।
या ब्रह्माच्युतशंकरप्रभृतिभिर्देवैः सदा पूजिता
सा मां पातु सरस्वति भगवती निःशेषजाड्यापहा ॥१॥
The chanting of this and many such mantras is a common feature of Saraswati Puja celebrations in Bengal. For years, even under those under the atheist Communist regime, school children and elders alike prostrated before Goddeess Saraswati and prayed for knowledge and wisdom from her. The centrality of Saraswati Puja can be understood by the fact that Bengal-centric Trinamool Congress had asked for Budget session to be shifted from 1st Feb, citing this festival. That might have been a political gimmick but the importance of Saraswati Puja among Bengalis can not be underestimated. So far, politicians have sought to downplay the religious nature of Saraswati Puja, highlighting instead its cultural facets- a self-defeating exercise in itself given that religion and culture in most cases overlap each other, but Saraswati Puja has always been celebrated with fervour. Not any more it seems. Reports emerging out of parts of Bengal indicate that vigorous attempts are being made to suppress Saraswati Puja celebrations, ostensibly in the name of secularism. State administration, it emerges is powerless to come to the succour of the devout to ensure Saraswati Puja celebrations.
Tehatta High School in Howrah district, not far from the state capital, Kolkata has become the latest flashpoint in the communally charged atmosphere of West Bengal. The school is located in Uluberia town, which has a substantial Muslim/Bangladeshi population. On December 13 last year, Muslim students, ostensibly egged on by ‘outsiders’, demanded celebration of ‘Vishwa Nabi Diwas’, coinciding with Milad-un-Nabi. There was no such tradition or precedent for such celebrations inside the school premises. After checking with the education department, school authorities denied permission for the event. This precipitated worsening of communal atmosphere in the school. Outsiders and students defied the school administration and set up a stage inside the school premises to celebrate Nabi diwas. A black flag was also hoisted on the school premises. They also questioned why Saraswati Puja celebrations were allowed in the school when permission for Nabi Diwas had been denied. School headmaster, Utpal Malik was roughed up and tendered his resignation a few days later. The school has been in an extended period of shut down preceding and following the situation.
Yesterday, on 1st February, students from Tehatta High School took to the streets, blocking NH-6 and carrying a 3 ft moorti of Saraswati, demanding that they be allowed to celebrate their festival with earnestness. They were also protesting against the authorities for having kept the school locked out for more than 2 months. Predictably, the response of the state adninistration was to lathicharge the students, who hurled stones at the police. Many students were injured and social media was rife with reports about Mamata’s police assaulting defenceless students. In fact, this has become a norm in Mamata’s Bengal. Durga Visarjan was postponed to accommodate Muslims who wanted to observe Muharram, news reports on riots in Dhulagarh, where Hindus were set upon by Muslim mobs were described as falsehood, Malda riots, where again Hindu population was at the mercy of Muslim arsonists were ignored. It has become a pattern in Mamata’s Bengal to indulge in minority appeasement by oppressing the Hindu majority. Things have deteriorated to the extent that festivals such as Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja, long considered manifestations of Bengali culture have come under attack by Muslim fundamentalists.
Mamata knows that the way to power for her lies through the 30% Muslim population of the state and thus she chooses to play Nero while Bengal burns!
As for Goddess Saraswati, one can only say that may she bless Bengal.
अपो अस्मान मातरः शुन्धयन्तु घर्तेन नो घर्तप्वः पुनन्तु |
विश्वं हि रिप्रं परवहन्ति देविरुदिदाभ्यः शुचिरापूत एमि ||
(May the waters, the mothers, cleanse us,
may they who purify with butter, purify us with butter,
for these goddesses bear away defilement,
I come up out of them pure and cleansed)
References:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengaal-school-shut-down-communal-tension/1/870759.html
Nabi Diwas vs Saraswatii Puja: Fault lines in a Bengaal school
