KOLKATA: Taking idolatry to new heights in the eastern state of West Bengal, a Durga Puja pandal of Nadia district has installed the idol of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee depicting her as Goddess Durga.
The Krishnanagar idol that is already grabbing eyeballs in the puja of Prantik club in Chakdah town has ten hands of Didi showcasing the ten major schemes and projects that her government fondly describes as their achievements, including Kanyashree scheme and super speciality hospitals. The folded hand idol of the Chief Minister has a backdrop of the state’s map with the achievements behind every open eight remaining hand of the idol.
Chakdah’s ‘Maa Mamata’ is not ferocious in slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura but is calm and composed and seems is seeking votes for the distant elections. She wears the legendary blue and white saree and sports the hawai slippers.
Earlier, during the 1971 war, the faces of the Durga idols made that year resembled that of Indira Gandhi. In 2001, the Mahishasura faces resembled that of Osama bin Laden and in 2003, during Iraq invasion, the Mahishasura faces looked like Saddam Hussian. However, never has any idol of Durga been directly dressed and resembled like a political figure.
Even as many eager locals are vying to catch a glimpse of the idol of their CM, not all Bengalis are sharing their feelings for the idol.
“This is the new low that we have stooped to. We have seen Modi temple in Uttar Pradesh and Sonia temple in Telangana. But, I never thought that we would see such blind following of a leader in our state. Honestly, this is degrading the pure strong political tradition that we boast of. We are no different from the rest of the country, more resembling the south now where huge cut-outs of leaders are seen and worshipped,” said Dimpi Chatterjee, a health consultant based in Kolkata said.
Even staunch Trinamool supporters found this way too forward. “She is not our god. She is our leader and we stand behind her. They may have done this out of love but soon others may follow them and the larger-than-life image of our beloved down-to-earth Didi will be created,” said Tapas Naik, a Trinamool supporter in Dantan, a small town near Odisha border.
A Burdwan University student felt that the club used the Mamata idol just to attract more visitors. “I think this was one of the tricks used by the club just to ensure more people come to the pandal just to see the ‘Maa Mamata’ statue,” said Satyaki Sen, a Second year B Com student.