Kolkata: New controversy erupted in West Bengal after a club in Baguihati in North 24 Parganas near Kolkata decided to put up an idol of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alongside Goddess Durga's.
Baguihati Nazrul Park Puja Committee this year has decided to dedicate their puja to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the TMC’s landslide victory in the recently concluded assembly elections.
According to artist Mintu Pal, the idol of Mamata will be made in clay and fiber so that it can be preserved.
“The main idol will be Mamata didi with folded hands smiling. At the backdrop there will be the logo of Biswa Bangla and ten hands will be seen from the logo with 10 schemes of the TMC government including the recently started Lakshmir Bhandar,” said Mintu, adding that this depiction will be the true depiction of ‘peaceful and developing West Bengal’.
According to TMC sources, this idol of TMC supremo will be preserved after the puja.
Notably, during 2019 puja, a club in Nadia district had worshipped Mamata Banerjee’s idol as Goddess Durga.
Political slugfest started after West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh stated that by this act the TMC is hurting the religious sentiments of people in West Bengal.
“I believe in offering prayers to Maa Durga, who is Bengal and Bengalis' pride. Whatever is happening is not right. Mamata Banerjee calls herself secular while repeatedly hurting the sentiments of people of Bengal and Bengalis is not appropriate,” said Ghosh.
It can be recalled that after coming to power in 2011, the TMC government had stopped immersion of Durga idols on Dussehra if it clashed with Muharram citing communal peace.
Meanwhile, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya took to Twitter and wrote, “This deification of Mamata Banerjee, who has blood of innocent Bengalis on her hand, following the gruesome post poll violence in Bengal, is nauseating. This is an insult to goddess Durga. Mamata Banerjee must stop this. She is hurting the sensibilities of Hindus of Bengal.”
Slamming this initiative, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “When someone tries to elevate you to God’s stature only to please you & your silence indicates consent, it means your ego has reached a point where conscience can’t hold it accountable.”
