Trinamool Congress leaders Madan Mitra and Saugata Roy on the eve of Bhabanipur poll result, were seen giving finishing touches to an idol of Mamata Banerjee as Maa Durga. Madan Mitra is an MLA from West Bengal and Sougata Roy is an MP from the state.
Madan Mitra also compared Mamata Banerjee to Goddess Durga and declared that CM Banerjee’s idol showed the Goddess in the ‘eye-giving’ episode. The Baguihati Nazrul Park Development Association and Crowdnxt Mediia Art’s Pandal leading up to the Durga Puja celebrations portrayed the 3-time CM as Goddess Durga.
বাগুইহাটি নজরুল পার্ক উন্নয়ন সমিতির দুর্গোৎসবে, শ্রদ্ধেয়া নেত্রী @MamataOfficial আদলে দুর্গা মায়ের চক্ষুদান পর্ব। @SaugataRoyMP#NationWantsDidi #DurgaPuja2021 pic.twitter.com/zKE3NglY5V
— Madan Mitra| মদন মিত্র (@madanmitraoff) October 1, 2021
According to reports, three pandal committees in September were in the process of making idols of the CM Mamata Banerjee depicted as Goddess Durga for the coming Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal.
The committees named Nazrul Park Unnayan Samiti and Crowdnxt Mediia Art were involved in creating a Mamata idol sporting ten hands with each hand indicating her different govt’s schemes like Lakhi Bhandar, Shikshashree, Swasthya Sathi and others. Recently, CM Banerjee also contested the Bhowanipore bypoll after losing her Nandigram seat to Suvendu Adhikari.
Vice President of Nazrul Park Unnayan Samiti told ANI, “Every person in Bengal considers her as Goddess Durga. The benefits she provided to people haven’t been seen in world,”, further adding, “The 10 hands of Goddess Durga will be shown reaching out to people with schemes like Lakhi Bhandar, Shikshashree, Swasthya Sathi etc.”
Also, Mintu Pal the idol maker gave his opinions on the designs. He explained, “The fiberglass idol will be prepared, keeping the facial impression of the CM in mind. The idol will sport a white saree and in the background, there will be the logo of Biswa Bangla.” Talking about costs, Crowdnxt Mediia Art Director Dipanwita Bagchi said, “It costs Rs 2.10 lakhs. Her 10 hands will represent her govt schemes. It was a big challenge for me to complete this concept”.
The TMC slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ used during the Bhowanipore bypoll campaign is set to become the Durga Puja theme for Bhowanipore constituency this year.
The development comes at a time when political violence has been rampant in West Bengal in the aftermath of TMC’s victory in the assembly elections. Mamata Banerjee’s own record when it coms to Puja celebrations have been filled with controversy in recent times. Not too long ago, she had banned Murthi Visarjan on Dashami after 6 pm as the occasion clashed with Muharram.
Madan Mitra had stoked controversy earlier
Earlier this year, Madan Mitra was involved in a controversy for making Hinduphobic comments during a live debate on Zee 24 Ghanta with BJP MP Arjun Singh on the 28th of January. Then he had claimed that Sita made beef for Parshuram and declared his inclination to move the High Court and have the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan banned.
TMC MP Mitra had said, “Jai Shri Ram, we have to ban this slogan. I am going to the High Court. This is Bharatvarsha. Why are you saying Jai Shri Ram? You are excluding Sita. Can there be Ramayana without Sita? It means you have been trying to implement the NRC from the beginning.” and also ridiculed Hindu sentiments saying that Lord Ram would not eat unless beef was cooked by Goddess Sita herself. “Janaki jokhon janta parlo barita parshuram aschen tokhon janaki bollan ata janakraja tara tari akta choto goru ranna kore dao karon porshuram goru chara kichu khaba na boddo ragi (When Sita got to know about Ram’s return to his house, she had asked for beef to be cooked. This is because Ram is temperamental and will not accept anything as food other than
