Consulate General of India

Bijoya Mela by Bengali Association of WA 8 November 2025

Dr Jags Krishnan MLA
Neil Thompson MLC (Shadow Minister for Planning and Lands)
Councillor Balli Singh
Rajatava Dutta, Actor 

Kaya, namaste, sat sri akal, assalam alaikum, and a very good evening.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, and pay my respects to their Elders - past, present, and emerging.

Congratulations to the Bengali Association of Western Australia (BAWA) for bringing us all together on the occasion of Bijoya Mela in the city of Perth. It is a joyous culmination of the weeks of celebration building up to Durgo Pujo. It encompasses an entire range of our emotions, a sense of triumph with the victory of good over evil, of sadness as we bid farewell to the daughter as she returns to her husband’s home, of bittersweet longing as we look forward to the next year when “ashchhe bochhor abar hobe”.

It is also very exciting to see that the Bengali community in Perth is hosting the famous star of Bangla theatre, television and cinema, the versatile actor Mr Rajatabha Dutta. I am sure that almost all of us in this room have been regaled by Sir’s comic timing, or had goosebumps from his villainous glares!

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this lovely city and enjoy it at its springtime finest. You will find a vibrant Bengali community here that loves to study, work hard, celebrate its language and culture, to enrich the multicultural fabric of Western Australian society. Your presence here today is testament to the role of this community in forging stronger people to people linkages between India and Australia.

Congratulations once more to President Mr Amit Bhattacharya and his team for putting together this celebration, I thank all of you gathered here together on this special day and look forward to the cultural performances lined up for the evening.

Thank you and Namaste.