PANAJI
It’s just not cool to compare Shantadurga, Goa’s indigenous avataar of Goddess Durga, to a human being, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Sunday while slamming Goa Forward working president Kiran Kandolkar’s attempt to liken West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Durga and her Goan avataar.
“Devi Shantadurga is our prime deity. We worship Devi Shantadurga. Goans will not like Shantadurga being compared to someone, especially a human being. No one will accept it. Goans will not tolerate comparing Devi Shantadurga to a human being,” Sawant said on Sunday.
Sawant said that Goa stood out because of the religious amity in the state and said that the arrival of other political parties in Goa, especially the Trinamool Congress from West Bengal, could upset the social harmony in the coastal state.
If efforts are made to destabilise the situation in Goa, the calm Devi Shantadurga may don the more aggressive Durga avataar.
Earlier, Kandolkar, in an obvious, but unnamed reference to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the ‘real Durga’ from Kolkata needed to be brought to Goa to destroy a government run by bhasmasura (demon).
“Anything can happen in the coming days. Navaratris are going on...I feel that we will have to get Durga to Goa. The Durga in Goa is referred to as Shantadurga. She is calm. We will have to get the real Durga from Kolkata to Goa to destroy this bhasmasur-like government,” Kandolkar said.
