Kolkata, Dec 29 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday laid the foundation stone for Durga Angan, the Goddess Durga temple at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

She also announced that the stone-laying ceremony of the Mahakal (Lord Shiva) temple at Siliguri in Darjeeling district will be held in the second week of next month.

“Today, the foundation stone for the Durga Angan has been laid, and the work for the construction of the same will start now. In the second week of January, the foundation stone for the Mahakal temple at Siliguri will be laid next month. The land for that has been identified. I have also decided on the date for the foundation stone laying ceremony at Siliguri. It will be in the second week of January next year,” the Chief Minister said at the stone laying ceremony of Durga Angan.

She said that the Durga Angan will be set up over an area of 2 lakh square feet of land. “It would accommodate 1 lakh visitors at a time,” she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Banerjee also claimed that although she had equal respect for all religions, she was being questioned only for attending the Ramzan functions. “I try to maintain the rituals attached to that religion whose rituals I attend,” the Chief Minister said.

“The Durga Angan will not be a religious place. It will provide employment to a large number of people, also. In West Bengal, no one would be able to divide people in the name of religion. Those who were credited with the task of constructing the Lord Jagannath temple at Digha in East Midnapore district have been entrusted with the task of constructing the Durga Angan. A trust headed by the West Bengal Chief Secretary, Manoj Pant, will oversee the functioning of the Durga Angan,” the Chief Minister said.

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) described the initiative as yet another example of what it called the hallmark of her appeasement politics.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a statement on social media on Monday, claiming that after the chaos surrounding the recent event at Salt Lake Stadium showcasing Argentine football star Lionel Messi, the Chief Minister was now set to “taint the image of Goddess Durga”.

–IANS

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