A replica of the 'Charging Bull and Fearless Girl' statue was installed in New Town following the International Women's Day this year, recalling the much talked about controversy.
West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) recently installed a replica of the 'Charging Bull and Fearless Girl' near Eco Park and Mother's Wax Museum to bring a 'Manhattan' flavor to the township.
Residents of New Town as well as visitors are overjoyed to catch a glimpse of Wall Street while crossing the road.
"It was really a happy moment. I was driving through Major Arterial Road towards the airport when I first saw the statue. The finishing of the sculpture has been excellently done," said Anirban Chatterjee, a software engineer, who has actually seen the original in Manhattan. However, most visitors recalled the recent controversy over the installation of the 'Fearless Girl' statue in front of the Charging Bull there.
"I read in a US newspaper that the controversy started after Italian artist Arturo Di Modica, the maker of the iconic Charging Bull statue, has threatened to sue the maker of the Fearless Girl, Kristen Visbal, in a court of law. The US media covered the controversy and the related incidents very carefully and extensively," Sourav Bhattacharya, another New Town based software engineer said.
On March 7 this year, just a day before International Women's day, a bronze sculpture of the 'Fearless Girl' was installed in front of the Charging Bull in Wall Street. State Street Global Advisers (SSGA) of the United States took the initiative to install the Fearless Girl's statue as part of their marketing campaign for Gender-Diverse Index Fund.
The statue was placed facing the bull, and the two appear to have direct eye contact.
The Italian artist had reportedly said that the new statue corrupted the Charging Bull's artistic integrity.
However, CMD of WBHIDCO Debashis Sen said: "We wanted to commemorate International Women's Day in an exceptional manner. So the concept was borrowed from the ongoing argument in Wall Street regarding the statues."
He further said: "Replicas of the iconic structures of different cities can be seen everywhere around the world. It is a common practice. We are trying to bring more replicas to New Town."