The Mahatma, the Hindu Mahasabha, and Bengal’s rural elections

Visuals of the controversial depiction of Bapu in West Bengal were widely circulated across social media, forcing police intervention

On the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a demon at a Durga Puja pandal was shown with a crude imitation of his trademark look—a dhoti-clad man with bald head, rounded spectacles, and a walking stick— created a furore.

The visuals of the controversial depiction were widely circulated across social media, forcing police intervention. The organisers promptly put a wig on the head and removed the spectacles and sported a moustache.

The Congress, and other parties in the West Bengal political arena were united in their condemnation of this. Even a regional representative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh categorically said that the organisers concerned had “nothing, whatsoever” to do with the Sangh. “We don’t agree with what has happened,” the representative told DH.

Also read | Durga Puja pandal 'asura' in Mahatma Gandhi’s likeness stirs up trouble in Kolkata

However, the incident brought the pandal organisers, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, into the limelight. Chandrachur Goswami, the state working president of the Mahasabha, had claimed that it was a coincidence that the asura being slayed had a marked resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi. According to him, the asura represented corruption.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Goswami claimed that there were threats against him for speaking out against the alleged corruption and “horse-trading” by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Besides holding the BJP responsible for several issues that concerned the country, he said his Mahasabha has demanded that Netaji be honoured by the BJP-led Union government.

Goswami also said that the Mahasabha now had two new projects—one of which was “to expose the cold-blooded conspiracy and murder of Indian National Army (founded as Azad Hind Fauj by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose) soldiers in Neelganj and Jhikargacha camps as ‘Neelganj Chalo Abhijan’.”

The other one, he said, was “to call for an all-India movement by making a clarion call to march towards Nagaland against the Nehru-Elvin agreement.”

The political undertones of this are quite obvious, and the Mahasabha reportedly intended to participate in the upcoming panchayat elections.

Goswami, who was active on the state’s political fringes, had contested as an independent candidate in the by-election to the Bhabanipur legislative constituency against Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee. In the by-election, he claimed to have gotten 281 votes.

His candidature affidavit stated that he was a gold medallist with a master’s degree in environmental science, with another master’s in vocal music.

Goswami claimed that he used to be associated with the BJP, but having been disillusioned, he would now take the Mahasabha forward in the interest of Bengali Hindus. The Mahasabha, as of now, has 500 members in West Bengal. “We are neither Trinamool’s nor the BJP’s. If people think so, we can’t help,” Goswami said.