KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police registered an FIR against the organisers of the All India Hindu Mahasabha Durga Puja pandal after a controversy surfaced regarding the depicted 'asura' in the mentioned pandal.The idol in the pandal depicted an 'asura' as a dhoti-cald bald man holding a walk stick, who appeared similar to Mahatma Gandhi.
Following complaints and a police appeal, the organisers later added a wig and moustache to the 'asura', changing its appearance.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Murlidhar Sharma said to the media that a case has been lodged against the puja organisers and that the police is looking into it.
The police registered the case under sections 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), 283 (causing danger or obstruction in any public way), 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to police reports, a row broke out over the issue and police personnel went to the Durga Puja pandal at around 7.30 pm on Sunday. The police reached the pandal and requested the organisers to add a wig and moustache to the 'asura'. The organisers initially resisted and later added a wig and moustache. The police reported that, "Hair and moustache have been added on the 'asura', which was originally Mahatma Gandhi's lookalike."
Chandrachur Goswami, president of the West Bengal All India Hindu Mahasabha, stated that they had represented this year's Durga Puja with a theme against corruption. He stated that the police forced them to add a wig and he will fight legally against the Zero case registered against him. He further added that a person with bald head and spectacles need not always be Mahatma Gandhi, however, he and his organisation followed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and did not find anything wrong in criticising Mahatma Gandhi.
The incident has received mixed reactions from different sections of people. While some feel that this is an attempt to vilify the father of the nation, many others considered the idea to be in line with the controversial attribution of heroism to Mahatma Gandhi's killer, Nathuram Godse.
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