The Bengal Chief Minister, complete with her white and blue sari and folded hands, is Durga at Chakdaha.
Highlights
- A Durga idol two hours away fromKolkata is all the buzz right now
- At Chakdaha town Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is Durga
- The fiberglass lookalike has, besides her two hands, 10 arms like Durga
This Durga Puja, Mamata Banerjee has 12 arms and is transformed from Didi to "Ma".
The
pujas begin on Friday and while Kolkata's many pandals are usually the big draw, a Durga idol two hours away from the city is all the buzz this time.
The Bengal Chief Minister, complete with her white and blue sari, slippers and folded hands, is Durga at Chakdaha town.
A fiberglass lookalike has, besides her two hands, 10 arms like Durga, symbolically holding projects she launched as Chief Minister. At her feet is a depiction of villagers in Singur celebrating in front of Tata Motor's half-built factory.
Soumitra Bhattacharya, secretary of this puja, says: "We have turned Didi into Mother. People of Bengal will make her Durga."
The Mamata idol will not be worshipped. A separate Durga idol has been placed a few feet away, though at about three feet, it is dwarfed by the taller Mamata idol.
Didi is how Ms Banerjee's supporters refer to her. "Didi" is the mother of all in Bengal, says resident Devki Nandan Lohia, to loud applause from his friends.
Many of the biggest Durga Pujas are traditionally hosted by politicians. But they have never become the theme. Opposition parties are protesting what they call a personality cult.
"This is a terrible example of that," said the BJP's Krishnau Mitr, adding: "It is the Trinamool's USP. We have seen it with BSP and some south parties. It should not be encouraged at all."
Calling the Mamata idol "unprecedented and preposterous", Left leader Satarup Ghosh said: "Historically, leaders with dictatorial tendencies fan this personality cult. Worse. Mamata Banerjee is politicizing Bengal's biggest festival and its culture."
Online, many art historians, sociologists and others are using adjectives like hilarious, horrific, height of sycophancy, something Mamata Banerjee should put a stop to.
But Trinamool lawmaker Ratna Dey Kar demurs: "We have not turned her into a goddess. We have made her development work our model. Why should Didi be angry?"
Mamata Banerjee has so far held her silence on her idol.