With migrant workers facing immense difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers of Durga Puja in a Kolkata neighborhood have decided to pay tribute not to Goddess Durga but to migrant workers who have been struggling to survive the pandemic.
The Barisha Club Durga Puja committee in Behala, Kolkata has decided to replace the traditional Durga idol this year with an idol of a migrant worker and a mother with a child on her hip.
READ: Covid-19 lowered goddess Durga’s height, but Delhi idol makers face losses inches can’t measure
Not just Durga, the other deities of the pantheon that are part of the Durga Puja panel, including Saraswati and Laxmi (Lokkhi), have also been replaced. The goddesses will be represented by two daughters of the migrant worker as they pass, one with an owl representing Laxmi and the other with a duck, the ‘vaahan’ (transport) chosen by Saraswati. All four are accompanied by a chubby boy with an elephant head, which means Ganesha.
Migrant mother as Goddess Durga at a Durga Puja Pandal this year The idol of a migrant working mother, a shirtless little boy (Kartick) in her arms, who will be worshiped as Goddess Durga at Barisha Club in Behala, West Bengal. https://t.co/RsCm4L2D91 pic.twitter.com/eHej5ymX8R
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The statue depicts the woman heading towards a traditional Durga idol, the ten-armed one, in search of “relief.” In fact, “Relief” (Tran in Bengali), is the theme of this year’s Puja celebrations at the Barisha Club, which is well known for its themes, the Durga Puja canopies in Kolkata.
“The goddess is the woman who braved the scorching sun and hunger and misery along with her children. She is looking for food, water and some relief for her children, “said the artist of the statue of the migrant mother, Rintu Das. The Telegraph.
In September, the Indian government said that of the four crore of migrant workers in the country, more than 25 percent or 1.05 crore have returned to their respective states due to the coronavirus epidemic and the ensuing lockdown. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 32.50 lakh of workers returning home, followed by Bihar with 15 lakh, said Union (IC) Minister of State for Labor and Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The stress has been put even more on women who have not only lost income but have also been forced to walk through four walls with their families. Many of them have faced an increase in domestic violence and abuse by their partners during the confinement.
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