Kolkata, Oct 04: For most middle-class Bengalis, Durga as patron goddess of safe sex and birth control is sacrilege. But for the Kolkata-based Love Puja Committee, an idol made of contraceptive pills and condoms is the best way of spreading the message.
Denied permission by a touchy Kolkata police, committee members have decided to go ahead and worship the goddess in a south Kolkata hideout on Saturday, Navami, as a mark of protest.
The committee members had earlier picked a spot near the 8B bus stand in Jadavpur for the puja.
Their plan was to place the idol on a Matador instead of the traditional pandal. When they sought permission from the Jadavpur police station, they were flatly refused.
Police sources said that the application detailed the aim of the puja to spread awareness about AIDS through the Durga idol. They were ready to settle for a one-day Puja on Navami but the police struck down that appeal. Organisers were threatened with arrest if they carried out the puja, police sources said.
The idol was made at a house in north Kolkata and preparations for the puja on Navami are underway.
The organisers plan to circulate leaflets in the city informing citizens about the puja and its message.
"We will also let the people know that the police did not permit us to carry out a puja with a noble purpose," they said.