Miriti: Union Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee on Monday stepped into the role of a priest to conduct
traditional rituals of 'Mahasaptami', the first day of Durga
puja, at his ancestral house in Miriti village of Birbhum
district.
"This is a much-awaited occasion in my life and I eagerly
wait throughout the year to be at our ancestral house these
four days," the 77-year-old Congress leader told reporters at
the end of the day's puja.
Family sources said the Union minister's grandfather
Jangaleswar Mukherjee had introduced Durga puja, which entered
its 117th year, at the Miriti house.
"I hardly missed the opportunity to be at Miriti to
attend the puja, except in 1995 when I represented India at UN
General Assembly and two or three times due to political
reasons," he said.
Security measures were in place at the ancestral house of
the Mukherjees and metal detectors put up at the main
entrance.
Reaching the Miriti house this morning from his elder
sister's house at Kirnahar, three km from here, Mukherjee,
accompanied by his son Abhijit Mukherjee, Congress MLA,
himself walked upto a canal of Kueye river for the formal
bathing of the 'Kalabou' to mark the formal beginning of the
4-day Durga puja.
Back to the mandap, Mukherjee, wearing dhoti and
anagavastram, carried out various rituals. True to the family
tradition, the puja was simple and bereft of any grandeur.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 17:30