The All India Hindu Mahasabha held a durga puja in Kolkata, which sparked a controversy when the ‘Mahishasura’ (Buffalo demon) was represented as Mahatma Gandhi. However, they claimed that the puja’s organisers modified and erased the face under pressure from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Following a complaint, the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha altered the idol’s appearance as directed by the police, according to PTI.
When reached, Chandrachur Goswami, the acting president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha’s West Bengal state chapter, said to India Today, ‘Gandhi is the real asura in our eyes. The true asura, he is. That is why we crafted the murti in this manner. Mahatma Gandhi is being promoted by the national government. We had to take the murti out and replace it. The Home Ministry has put pressure on us. Gandhi must go, and Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and other independence fighters must continue to lead ‘, said Goswami.
According to tradition, Goddess Durga killed Mahusasur in a great conflict to put an end to his rule of evil. A journalist posted what appeared to be a picture of the Durga idol before taking it down and saying the police urged him to because it would cause unrest during the festival.
PARTIES IN POLITICS SLAM MOVEMENT
All major parties, including the Trinamool Congress, which is in power in the state, as well as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, CPI-M, and Congress, condemned the action. The Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha denounced the action. The Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha’s leader declared, ‘We disapprove of what they did. Only to be in the spotlight is this. They identify as the Hindu Mahasabha. However, we find this sad’.
If this was actually done, according to Trinamool Congress state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, it was sacrilege. ‘ It is insulting to the nation’s founding father. Each and every person of the nation is being insulted. What would the BJP say in response to such a slur? We are aware of which ideological movement Gandhiji’s killer belonged to’, Ghosh continued. Such a depiction was also criticised by the state BJP. ‘ It is unfortunate if such a decision had been made. We condemn it. This is in bad taste’, the BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, according to PTI.
Also asserting that they are the ‘sole’ Hindu Mahasabha party is Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. As stated by Chandrachur Goswami, ‘Every other organisation affiliated with the Hindu Mahasabha is untrue. All of these are BJP-related’. Every year, the people in charge of organising the puja pick a theme—usually a societal problem—and utilise their pandals, idols, and lighting setups to represent it. Frequently, a symbol of social evil has taken the place of the traditional Mahisasura.
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