Behala: Puja pandal mirrors ‘Gaza crisis’ through famine imagery

Kolkata: A Durga Puja pandal in Behala has turned into a space of protest and remembrance, drawing parallels between the Bengal famine of 1943 and the hunger unfolding in Gaza.

The theme, centred on famine as a tool of war, seeks to highlight what organisers describe as one of the most pressing humanitarian crises of recent times. At the entrance to the Behala Friends pandal near Route 14 bus stand, visitors are confronted with stark reminders of deprivation. A rib cage-like structure leads into a space where rice sacks are hoarded, echoing images of Bengal’s famine. Overhead, machines press against bags of grain, while a broken warplane lies nearby with rice piled against its blades. The Durga idol itself is stripped of grandeur, symbolising the way scarcity spares none, not even the divine.

The words “Genocide” and “Free Palestine” frame a vending machine that dispenses mock weapons, while scratch paintings of artists Chittaprosad and Zainul Abedin line the walls. A banner at the gate carries George Orwell’s words: “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”

The Puja incorporates global voices of resistance. Palestinian poet Naama Hassan’s work Face to Face is displayed, its haunting lines about hunger resonating with the theme. A voiceover by Palestinian theatre director Raeda Ghazaleh adds another layer of testimony from Gaza. Artists Rajnarayan Santra and Pradip Das told the media they had reached out to Hassan and Ghazaleh for the project. “What is happening in Gaza today is not very different from the famine that ravaged Bengal under British rule,” Santra said. “As artists once painted in rage and protest, we too cannot remain silent.”

For the organisers, the pandal is both a prayer and a political statement — a call for food, dignity and freedom.