Kolkata: BJP has sent a legal notice to the puja community that depicted the Lakhimpur Kheri incident stating that the shoes heaped at the pandal is hurting Hindu sentiments.
Taking to Twitter, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “A Durga Puja pandal in Dumdum Park has been decorated with shoes. This heinous act of insulting Maa Durga in the name of "Artistic liberty" won't be tolerated. I urge the Chief & Home Secretary @egiye_bangla to intervene & compel the organizers to remove the shoes before Shashti.”
Former Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy said that the heap of shoes near the pandal is a straight ‘hurt’ to the Hindu sentiments and also that the organizers should immediately remove them.
However, Dum Dum Park organizer Pratik Chowdhury said that a heap of shoes is placed outside the pandal and is also away from the idol.
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP posted a photo and slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for inaugurating Durga pandal wearing slippers which is a direct insult to the Goddess Durga.
It is pertinent to mention that the Dum Dum park puja organizer had placed heaps of paddys along with slogans in favour of farmers and poor and several burnt shoes are heaped as a part of pandal decorations.
Notably, huge tractors are being placed at the entrance of the puja and according to artist Anirban Das who had also conceptualized the theme, the names of farmers who died in the course of the agitation have been written in chits of paper on the giant tractor.
The slogan which has gained the maximum momentum is ‘motorgari uray dhulo niche pore chashigulo’ (the car leaves behind a swirl of dust while farmers fall under its wheels). Several other pro-farmer slogans are written in English and Bengali across the pandal.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that a puja pandal of Kolkata is addressing socio-economic developments. It can be recalled that last year Barisha club had depicted Goddess Durga as ‘migrant worker’ struggling to reach native place due to the sudden lockdown for the ongoing pandemic.
