Kolkata: Puja pandal's tribute to migrant workers, idols of migrant workers replaces Gods and Goddesses

Keeping their struggles in mind, a pandal in Kolkata decided to replace the traditional idol of Goddess Durga with that of the migrant workers as a tribute to their hardships.

The pandal, organized by Barisha Club Durga Puja committee in Behala, Kolkata, features a migrant worker mother in place of the goddess.

Apart from the idol of Durga, those of the other Gods and Goddesses, including Saraswati, Laxmi and Ganesh, and Kartik have also been replaced with idols of migrant workers.

The female Goddesses have been replaced with migrant workers' daughters, carrying a duck and owl, respectively, which are considered as the deities' chosen 'vaahan'. The migrant mother idol also carries a shirtless child in her arms, in place of Kartik. Besides, there is a pot-bellied child with an elephant head, signifying Ganesha. There are no weapons nor the idol of the demon 'Asura'.

For this year's theme, Barisha chose 'relief', in the wake of the pandemic. And the migrant worker idols have been designed to show a small, more traditional image of the Goddess with 10 hands inside a halo looking for relief.

During the months of March to June 2020, more than one crore migrant workers returned to their home states on foot, as per data compiled by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Over 80 thousand accidents occurred on the roads during the period with nearly 30 thousand fatalities, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways V K Singh told Lok Sabha in a written reply in the recently concluded Parliament session.

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