Mamata to physically inaugurate Kali Puja pandals from today

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to inaugurate several Kali Puja pandals physically from Wednesday. She is also scheduled to hold a Cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Wednesday.

According to sources, Banerjee may go to Janbazar, Shakespeare Sarani and Venus club’s Kali Puja. She inaugurated Durga Pujas virtually due to leg injury. Like Durga Puja, Banerjee inaugurates Kali Puja as well. She inaugurated several Kali Pujas last year as well.

Kali Puja is a major festival celebrated in Tripura and Bengal. In the remaining parts of the country, people worship Goddess Lakshmi on the occasion of Diwali.

This year, Kali Puja falls on November 12, the same day when Diwali will be celebrated across the country. According to Hindu mythology, Goddess Kali is the first of the ten incarnations of Goddess Durga. Depicted with a fierce face and terrifying look, Goddess Kali is regarded as the most aggressive form of Goddess Durga.

Mamata Banerjee, in order to celebrate the idea of “Goddess” and “Shakti” which is the predominant theme of this season of “women power” had decided to highlight the different public distribution schemes she has started for women in her state. These include the hugely popular Lakshmir Bhandar (in which women from poor families receive Rs 1000 in their bank accounts every month), the Rupashree scheme (in which the families who belong to the ‘below poverty line’ category’ receive a one-time financial assistance of Rs 25,000 during a daughter’s marriage) and of course the internationally-acclaimed Kanyashree scheme (in which girls from poor families receive free education and other benefits related to their studies).

Durga Puja celebration in the state has already received recognition from UNESCO. Chief Minister Banerjee on Monday said that Durga Puja carnival in the city has surpassed the carnival in Brazil in terms of footfall. She said that at least 40,000 foreigners attended the Puja carnival on Red Road this year. Next year the state government will connect with Puja organisers from across the globe so that they can see Bengal’s Puja and people here can also witness the foreign Pujas, she stated.