A day after a controversy erupted over the installation of a Mahishasur idol (buffalo demon) that resembled Mahatma Gandhi at a Durga puja here, the Kolkata Police lodged an FIR against the organisers on Monday.
The Mahishasur idol had a bald head and was dressed in a white dhoti and round glasses. “The police got an artist to remove spectacles, put a moustache and hair on the asura,” Sundargiri Maharaj, the president of the state unit of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) — the organiser of the pandal — said.
The Mahishasur idol now sports a moustache and hair, though it still holds a wooden stick in its left hand.
Parties, cutting across political lines, have denounced the depiction. The Congress on Monday sought arrest of the accused. The BJP has also castigated the representation of Mahisashur at the marquee.