Puja mandaps with a point of view

In an effort to symbolically represent its struggles against land grabbing, a temple in Rajshahi has decorated its mandap in the theme of good vs evil. While a giant is about to swallow a temple with a huge gape, some united fists are trying to raise a protest, while a symbol of justice is trying to portray its light. This depiction at the entrance of the mandap reveals the temple's ongoing saga against land grabbers, and it has drawn the attention of the city's residents. "This is our way of protesting against evil forces – the land grabbers who are constantly threatening our temple," said Ratan Kumar Pal, president of the Sree Sree Laxmi Narayan Dev Bigraha Thakur temple's governing committee. The temple is located at the city's Malopara area.

"We're tired of fighting them [the grabbers]. It never feels like our voices are being heard," he said, adding that the issue is under trial at the High Court. He also said the grabbers have the support of communal forces operating from the back. Beside the Laxmi Narayan temple, Shibalay temple of the city's Sagarpara area also drew attention by mixing Durga puja festivities with a message of denouncing communal forces. At Shibalay, the protest is directed at the destruction of the city's cinema halls. One of its banners say it is the evil power of communal forces that instigated the demolition of the halls.

Rajshahi used to have at least five popular cinema halls –- Kolpona, Aloka, Upohar Bornali, and Lili. By October 2018, none of them were standing anymore. Meanwhile, other banners put up at the temple say cinema is a part of the country's independence and culture.

Meanwhile, Sagarpara’s Shibalay temple protested the continued attack on Rajshahi city’s cinema hall culture. PHOTO: ANWAR ALI As a show of protest and solidarity with the halls, Shibalay temple authorities decided to decorate their puja mandap replicating the design of Kolpona Cinema Hall.

The temple authority also informed this correspondent that around 1,200 cinema halls were destroyed all over the country in the last one decade, all in the name of development.