Am artisan in West Bengal has protested against the ongoing Chinese agression in one of the most creative ways. Taking the call to boycott Chinese products more seriously than many, he has crafted a Durga idol with only local materials.
The 27-year-old Abhijit Ganguly has used seeds of fruits and vegetables like gourd, pumpkin and dates, wood powder and Banyan tree branches to make a Durga idol in a pandal in East Burdwan’s Memari, reported Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin.
Known for his talent to make creative objects with waste materials, Ganguly is an expert in making idols of Kali, Saraswati and several other goddesses with unusual materials.
He has created idols using blades, biscuits, coins and bricks. At a pandal themed against smoking, Ganguly has made Durga idols using biri and cigarettes as well.
This time around, he decided to forward the message of patriotism through his work. He made the Durga idol in Memari using 25 only-natural products, including spoon, sticks, thread, snail shells, palm seeds, etc.
Taking a pride in his work, Ganguly has informed that even after immersion his idol will not pollute water bodies, unlike the usual idols decorated with artificial materials like plastic and paper.
“At this time, everyone should boycott Chinese products. I haven’t used any kind of Chinese materials and have only used naturally available things to create the Durga idol. There’s no possibility of any kind of pollution from my idol even after its immersion,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by the Bengali daily.
Meanwhile, the call to stop using Chinese products had been in the air ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to become atmanirbhar (self-reliant).
But with Indian and Chinese troops in a long-standing face-off at the border region in Ladakh, which resulted in the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in June, anti-China sentiment has become the strongest.