Morcha kicks off dress code with phulpati

VIVEK CHHETRI

A young girl dressed as a goddess in a procession in Darjeeling on Friday. (Suman Tamang) TT, Darjeeling, Sept. 25: Dressed in traditional attires, a mosaic of people from across communities joined hands to herald the Dassai today, the first day of the month-long dress code imposed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Members of different communities — Bhutias, Sherpas, Marwaris, Bhojpuris and Lepchas — took part in a predominantly Gorkha tradition of phulpati rally, presenting a picture perfect scene of social harmony in Darjeeling. Girls in chaubandi cholo danced along with masked dancers dressed as the goddess. The biggest phulpati rally was organised by the Gorkha Kala Sanstan, which snaked uphill from the Motor Stand to Chowrastha on a sunny morning. The sounds of madaland dhamphu (traditional Nepali instruments) reverberated the hills as almost every village brought out a rally. Phulpati is a unique custom in which community members collect flowers, petals and other offerings from their houses and take them to the puja pandal to pay obeisance to Goddess Durga. The decorated palanquin carrying the sacred flowers, leaves and sugarcane tied in red clothes — the colour symbolising the goddess — is usually accompanied by an ornate umbrella. It is believed that people who pass underneath the palanquin are absolved of their sins. The tradition dates back to the days of King Pritivinarayan Shah (1723-1775) of Nepal when the phulpati procession used to start from Gorkha, his native place, and end at Kathmandu after covering hundreds of miles. With the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha asking people to wear their traditional dresses for a month from today, many in town were seen attired in their costumes. Roshan Giri and Binay Tamang, the Morcha leaders, also took part in the Sanstan rally in traditional dress. At Chowrasta, singers rendered songs. “From tomorrow, every community will perform its traditional dance for the next one month. The cultural show will be from 4pm to 6pm and the Lepchas will be the first to take the stage tomorrow,” said Tenzing Khambachay, the festival co-ordinator. Marathon meet, but no mayor- Gautam Deb elected Trinamul leader in SMC Partha Chatterjee TT, Sept. 25: The mayor of Siliguri could not be selected even today although Trinamul Congress leader Partha Chatterjee held a marathon discussion throughout the day in the trade hub with councillors from his party and the Congress to arrive at a consensus. “After unanimously choosing Gautam Deb our leader of the party in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, I requested Congress councillors to accept him as a mayoral candidate. But they keep on staking claim to the post. At this juncture, I have left the matter to the councillors from both the parties at the local level to settle the matter at the earliest,” Chatterjee said tonight from aboard the Darjeeling Mail while travelling back to Calcutta. Chatterjee, also the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said he had sent a text message to party chief Mamata Banerjee about today’s development. In Calcutta, Mamata was learnt to have told her aides tonight that she would talk to Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee if the selection of the mayor was not settled at the local level. Chatterjee had told journalists in Siliguri that Darjeeling district Congress president Shankar Malakar and Deb would sit with the councillors and decide on all the 14 posts in the SMC, including the mayor and the chairpersons of borough committees. “The decision has to come by September 30, as we need to submit papers to the SMC before the oath-taking ceremony on October 1. We also need to endorse the list from our party chief and I suppose the Congress, too, needs to do the same with its leadership,” he added. Malakar said he would sit with Congress councillors tomorrow to choose the party leader. While leaving Kiran Chandra Bhawan in Siliguri, Chatterjee spotted Ranjan Sil Sharma chewing paan. Trinamul had denied him a ticket — but did not field anybody in his place either — for spitting betel nut juice on a school official. “Come here! I have repeatedly told you to give up chewing paan. Why are you still taking it?” he said as Sil Sharma went near him. Sil Sharma hastily spat out the paan and slithered into the backseat of Chatterjee’s vehicle. SMC chooses Gautam leader SNS, SILIGURI, 25 SEPT: The Trinamul today selected its Darjeeling district president and councillor from Ward number 17, Mr Gautam Deb, as leader of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The Trinamul Opposition leader in the Assembly, Mr Partha Chatterjee held several meetings with the newly elected councillors of the Congress-Trinamul alliance and its leadership to discuss several issues, including the SMC mayor post. “The Congress and Trinamul Darjeeling district presidents Mr Gautam Deb and Mr Shankar Malakar would prepare a list of councillors for different posts and send it to the respective party state leadership for final decision,” said Mr Chatterjee. The Congress and Trinamul district leadership would choose persons for 14 important posts, including the SMC mayor, within 28 September and send it to the state leadership, said the Congress Darjeeling district president, Mr Shankar Malakar. The newly elected councillors would take oath of office in 1 October. Though the Trinamul today announced the name of its leader in the SMC, the Congress leadership is to take some more days to announce the name of its leader. “The newly elected Congress councillors have given the responsibility to the party leadership to select its leader and we are expecting to announce it in a day or two,” said Mr Malakar. According to Congress sources, eminent lawyer and party councillor from the ward number 12 Ms Gangotri Dutta would be the Congress leader in the SMC. Mr Chatterjee, along with Congress and Trinamul district leadership met all newly elected Congress-Trinamul alliance councillors and greeted them. Mr Chatterjee also held a meeting with the Trinamul councillors, where the Trinamul leader in the SMC was selected. Finally, Mr Chatterjee met Congress Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts presidents. According to sources, the Congress and Trinamul leadership have arrived at a consensus over a list of posts to be distributed among the councillors of the two parties. Speaking on the Raiganj Congress MP Mrs Deepa Das Munshi’s comment that the Congress would not leave the SMC mayor post to the Trinamul, Mr Chattopadhyay said: “It is Mrs Das Munshi’s personal opinion. However, we are trying to reach a consensus on the matter and the Congress and Trinamul district presidents have been asked to do the job.” It’s celebration all the way in Siliguri SNS, SILIGURI, 25 Sept.: Though most dhaaks did not beat and the pandals and puja arrangements of most puja committees in Siliguri were still incomplete, a good number of people dressed in their best took to the streets in the town last evening. Puja, at last had arrived. Though the main puja starts on Mahasaptami, the revellers started pandal hopping from Panchami itself. Whether it was Rathkhola in the east or Dadabhai Ground in the south or Bidhan Road in central Siliguri, the frenzy surrounding puja took off on Thursday with people thronging the pandals from evening till night. Though overcast conditions threatened to dampen the festive spirit, the skies held. “Thank God, the rain did not spoil the evening. I would have surely come out, rain or no rain. It would spoil my new dress at the most, but I could not have missed a single day of Puja come what may,” said Dipti Roy of Ashrampara. The college goer had descended at the Baghajatin Park Sarbojanin Durga puja with a group of friends in the evening. There were many who came out in their personal vehicles with families during the day hours as did not want to get stuck in the traffic snarls on the main days of Puja. “We normally prefer to watch the pujas, which are at a distance from our house, on Sashti because the traffic is thin on the day as compared to the other days of the puja. On Saptami, Ashtami and Navami, we go round the pujas in our locality on foot,” said Mr Rathin Sarkar, a Hakimpara resident. Mr Sarkar and his family visited over ten pandals on their four-wheeler last night. Mr Kamal Singha of Ranidanga had come to the town in an auto along with his family to see the pujas in Siliguri last evening as the traffic would not allow the movement of three-wheelers inside the town on the other days of Puja. “It is good to see that the organizers have almost completed their work and the town has already been transformed into a place of light and sound,” he said. Mr Sujay Das of Rangapani came to visit the pujas in Siliguri along with his friends last evening because he was apprehensive that it might pour on the other days and they might miss the pujas this year. “Normally we visit Siliguri on Ashtami, but this year we came earlier as we feared it may rain on the evening of Ashtami,” said Mr Das as he boarded a bus back to his locality beyond town.