In Bengal,the turf war between the TMC and CPM finds fertile ground in the Pujas In West Bengal,the autumn skies that herald the Durga Pujas are blue,as blue as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would like to paint Kolkata. But the vermillion that women fling at each other on the last day of the pujas is red,like the CPM flag. Both the Left and the Trinamool Congress strive to give the pujas a distinctly political colour. So visitors to the puja pandal might come away with a gleaming copy of Das Kapital,they might succumb to the lures of Parivartan,by Banerjee. Setting up bookstalls in front of puja pandals was a Left Front tradition,now adopted enthusiastically by the TMC. As reported in this paper,the TMC claims to have 2,000 stalls all over the state,while the CPM says it has an average of 60 in each district. The political turf war between the two major parties in Bengal is also fought over cultural figures and many of Kolkatas familiar landmarks. If the Left had christened one of the citys arterial roads Ho Chi Minh Sarani,TMC plaques now adorn busy flyovers. So it is no surprise that party hostilities should encompass this most beloved feature of life in Bengal,the pujas. In fact,this festive season has seen some voluptuous political gestures,with Banerjee decreeing a shutdown of all government offices for 10 days and a four-day hiatus for daily newspapers in the pujas. Even elsewhere,religious festivals have proved to be fertile ground for political showmanship. In poll-bound Himachal Pradesh,for instance,the Kullu Dussehra will be closely watched this year by the Election Commission,lest political parties use it for campaigning. There is something of the carnivalesque in Indias political culture that allows it to bleed easily into such festivities. But in Bengal,this encroachment of the political often threatens to cramp the rhythms of daily life.
