Kolkata: Youth Association, the organisers of the famous Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja, have said that they have neither changed the name of the festival nor support any move to rename the historic central Kolkata park, distancing themselves from the hoardings describing the puja as “Shree Mahabali Park Durgotsav Samity” and a parallel demand to rename the venue as Mahabali Park.Surendra Sharma, general secretary of the Youth Association, said the committee that organised the puja for decades was “forcefully ousted”, “restricting” their access to the park .“We have not changed the name of our Durga Puja, which remains Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja Committee. We have also not applied for any name change of the park,” said Sharma. “We do not know anything about the new committee or its office bearers.”On Sunday, TOI reported how fresh hoardings identifying the organisers as Shree Mahabali Park Durgotsav Samity appeared outside the park, naming BJP councillor and former deputy mayor Meena Devi Purohit as president and Maniktala MLA and minister Tapas Roy as chairperson. Purohit denied allegations that the puja was taken over and said she had already appealed to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation commissioner to officially rename Mohammad Ali Park as Mahabali Park. She also claimed the site was previously known as Mahabali Park before being renamed “for political reasons”, a claim that has not been independently verified.The latest developments come weeks after Tapas Roy was appointed chairperson of the Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja committee as preparations began for the festival’s 58th year.On May 23, soon after the new govt was elected, the association felicitated newly elected BJP MLAs at Haryana Bhavan and sought their assistance in restoring the puja to its former scale. Organisers appealed to Tapas Roy (Maniktala), Vijay Ojha (Jorasanko) and Purnima Chakraborty (Shyampukur) to help secure permissions required for expansion of the puja. Chowringhee candidate Santosh Pathak and Entally candidate Priyanka Tibrewal also attended the felicitation ceremony.Mohammad Ali Park has been associated with one of central Kolkata’s landmark community Durga Pujas since 1969. The park, earlier known as Auckland Park Circus, was renamed after freedom fighter Mohammad Ali Jauhar. The KMC website describes the site as a place associated with the anti-colonial movement against British rule.The puja has struggled to regain its earlier scale since a cave-in over a British-era underground brick-lined water reservoir around seven years ago rendered a large section of the park unsafe. The organisers were forced to shift the festival outside the park for two years before returning to a restricted area, limiting the size of pandals and visitor movement.
