By IANS
Kolkata : Organisers of a Kali puja in south Kolkata have chosen the Rizwanur-Priyanka tragedy as their theme to decorate the pandal this year, largely ignoring objections raised by the police.
The Chetla Agrani club have brought alive the doomed romance of the couple through clay models at their pandal for the puja that will be performed late Friday night to coincide with Diwali.
Rizwanur Rahman, a 30-year-old graphics designer, was found dead with his head smashed Sep 21 on the railway tracks, a month after his marriage with Priyanka Todi, the daughter of Ashok Todi — owner of the multi-billion rupee Lux Cozi group.
A replica of Arena Multimedia — the institute where the love between the couple blossomed — has been created inside a playground. Rizwanur used to teach Priyanka computer graphics at the institute.
A few steps ahead, the couple is seen sitting under a banyan tree, besotted with each other. A registrar is also seen solemnising their marriage. Another model shows Rizwanur’s mother Kishwar Jahan sitting in a room, flanked by the newly-weds.
The next scene shows Ashok Todi, Priyanka’s father, at Rizwanur’s Tiljala home, asking his daughter to return to her parents’ house. Another scene shows senior police officers interrogating the couple at Kolkata Police headquarters — Lalbazar.
The last scene shows a blood-spattered Rizwanur lying dead beside a railway track, marking the end of a dream.
“I see nothing wrong with Puja organisers enacting the tragedy. I personally went there Thursday and saw the pandal. The murder of my brother and involvement of the police higher-ups had created an upheaval in society with people crying for punishment of the guilty. I hope the theme would remind people about the hardship that my brother went through when he was hounded by the police to sever his ties with Priyanka,” Rukbanur Rahman, Rizwanur’s brother, told IANS.
The main pandal resembles St Xavier’s College, Rizwanur’s alma mater. Every visitor will also be given a candle to light before a photograph of Rizwanur.
During their stay at the pandal, visitors will listen to Rizwanur’s voice, desperately wanting to know what his crime was and why he had been forced to leave the world.
However, controversy has been chasing the organisers ever since work on the pandal began. Senior police officers first requested them not to take up the controversial theme.
Finally, police forced the organisers to alter the colour of the pandal to yellow from the original red that signified Lalbazar, where the police are seen interrogating Priyanka and Rizwanur. Police also asked the organisers not to show the train incident, saying it may escalate tension in the city.
Firhad Hakim of the Trinamool Congress, president of the puja committee and local councillor, conceived the theme. He said there was nothing wrong in displaying a true love story.
“For the past few years, we have been displaying topical themes like Veerappan’s death, tsunami and other such events. Last year, it was the rescue of Haryana kid Prince from a well,” he pointed out.