KOLKATA: A city-based international travel consultant filed a complaint against former tourism minister Indranil Sen and functionaries of Mahanirban Road Mass Art Society (MassArt), alleging they falsely claimed to be official partners of UNESCO to promote Durga Puja in Bengal. MassArt functionaries have denied the allegations.The consultant, Jaydeep Mukherjee, said he had been promoting Durga Puja abroad since 2010 and held 66 roadshows in various countries in Europe, North America and South America over a decade before UNESCO officially inscribed Kolkata’s Durga Puja as ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.The complaint was filed with the Kolkata Police commissioner, the state director general of police and the officer-in-charge of Bowbazar Police Station.“The former minister of tourism and cultural affairs minister Indranil Sen and his wife Madhuchhanda along with Dhruvajyoti Bose, Sayantan Maitra and Rajana Chatterjee incorporated an organisation in the name of Mahanirban Road Mass Art Society on June 24, 2022. Since then, the organisation falsely claimed to be official partners of UNESCO and cheated the common people by selling tickets worth Rs 4,000 for Preview Shows at 24 select Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata,” said Jaydeep Mukherjee.Alleging that common people were chested in the name of religion, Mukherjee said the entire move was a racket and that no delegation from UNESCO had ever visited pandals in the preview show. “This racket was supported by the erstwhile Trinamool Congress govt. Since the accused persons were influential and boasted about their association with the erstwhile govt, I could not take appropriate steps against them at the time,” he said.Mukherjee also said The Preview Show rendered Durga Puja Pandals exclusively accessible to the people who had bought the tickets and barred entry to the common people at large that led to conflicts and commotions at various pandals. “They converted the Durga Puja Pandals into private zones where entry was given to only a select few,” he said.Dhruvajyoti Bose of MassArt refuted the allegations and said he had all necessary documents to not only show the involvement of UNESCO in the Preview Show but also the financial assistance extended to Durga Puja committees and artists. “Representatives from the UN body have toured dozens of community pandals during the four day preview organised ahead of the festival,” he pointed out.
