The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha has been charged by the Kolkata Police for installing a Mahatma Gandhi idol at the feet of the Durga idol during a community puja instead of the asura (demon). Hindu texts claim that Durga killed Mahishasura to preserve the earth.
On Sunday, when Gandhi’s birth anniversary was being honoured, police took Gandhi’s idol from the puja location after its photographs appeared on social media and sparked protests.
“A case has been registered on the basis of a specific complaint,” said a Kolkata Police officer late on Monday.
Chandrachur Goswami, the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha’s state working president, earlier said he was unaware of any case. “Nobody has contacted us and no member of our party has been arrested,” said Goswami. He said the purpose of the exercise was to depict Gandhi as evil. “By the time the police came and replaced Gandhi’s idol with that of the asura, our mission was complete.”
One of those who filed a complaint against the Hindu group was Congress leader Koustav Bagchi, who also sent a copy of the complaint by mail to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. As far as I’m aware, no official case was filed until Monday afternoon, according to Bagchi.
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee led the West Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha, a group that asserted it is unrelated to the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which became the Bharatiya Janata Party, was founded by Mookerjee in 1951. (BJP).
Like every year, our Durga puja has been organised at Girish Park in north Kolkata. Anirban Ganguly, BJP leader and director of the Delhi-based Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, inaugurated our puja on Friday.”
Goswami said, “We want Gandhi-mukt India. We don’t consider him the father of the nation. He did immense harm to the country.”