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Durga Puja doesn’t need DJs. Banning them isn’t anti-Bengali

The high-decibel DJ music played during immersion processions is a modern addition that disrupts the traditional sanctity of Durga Puja.

When the BJP swept the West Bengal Assembly elections in May, it evidently ruffled feathers among a few Bengalis, especially the self-proclaimed ‘bhadroloks’. They suspected that a change at the helm meant a shift in the Bengali way of life. And to no one’s surprise, Durga Puja, in the very first year of the BJP’s reign, has found itself at the centre of a heated cultural, religious, and political debate.

Among a series of new rules for Durga Puja, the Suvendu Adhikari-led government decided to ban DJs in pandals and immersion processions. Like other changes, this too triggered a widespread controversy, with critics and opposition parties strongly opposing the move, saying it is an attempt ‘to alter West Bengal’s cultural and religious identity’.

To begin with, DJs were never a part of Bengali culture or tradition. It emerged during the........

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