Durga Puja Pandal In Kolkata Is Replicating Post-Poll Violence Of 2021

The festive mood has engulfed Kolkata as the city gears itself up for Durga Puja end of this week. Themed pandals dot the nooks and crannies of the city as the biggest festival is going on in full swing. Amid the festivity of the season, one pandal, by the BJP has grabbed all the eyeballs. 

The puja pandal of Saraswati Kalimata Mandir Parishad club near Narkeldanga is all about the post-poll violence in Bengal that witnessed much bloodshed in May 2021.

Conceptualised by Biswajit Sarkar, the brother of former BJP leader Abhijit Sarkar who was killed during the post-poll violence, the pandal is themed on “Mayeder Kanna Rkktatto Bangla," (crying mothers and bloodbath in Bengal), reports India Today.

The pandal was inaugurated by Leader of Opposition and Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and it pays tribute to Abhijit Sarkar and the many like him who were killed during the violence. 

In May 2021, Sarkar was allegedly murdered by a mob and his body was later found in Howrah’s Kankurgachi area. His family had accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Paresh Pal of involvement in the killing of Abhijit. 

Unlike other pandals, mothers' cries and eerie music are being played as the background score.

Speaking to India Today, Biswajit Sarkar, who also heads the club, said that the pandal replicates the pain the Sarkar family went through along with others, who suffered in the aftermath of the Bengal Assembly Elections 2021. 

The pandal is a reminder of "the ghastly time in Bengal following last year’s polls,”