A Durga Puja organising committee at Hingalganj in the Sunderbans has installed an idol with 100 hands to highlight the need to create employment opportunities in Bengal.

The decision to change the physical look of the deity was taken on the advice of a village artisan, who conceptualised and created Durga's look in an effort to ideate a solution to the job crisis in the state's rural areas. The rural unemployment was aggravated by the Centre's pause on the release of funds to Bengal under the 100-day job scheme on charges of financial irregularities.

Although the organisers — Kanthalberia Byabsayee Samity — were initially apprehensive of the people's reaction to the break from tradition, the response of the local residents has been overwhelming.

President of the Puja Committee Arghya Tarafdar said: “The change is a prayer for prosperity and well-being for all.”

“Not only Hingalganj but a vast area of the Sunderbans spanning both North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas also lack job opportunities. People have very few livelihood options, except farming and fishing. In the past three years, particularly since the outbreak of Covid-19, getting a sustainable livelihood has become very tough for all of us," Tarafdar added.

"Common people working under schemes like the 100-day job scheme have suffered because of the suspension of payment of their wages by the Centre. It appears Maa Durga with her 10 hands is no longer capable of providing us with more jobs. The artisan has conceptualised her as an omni-powerful entity with 100 hands who can bring prosperity and happiness to our lives.”

In the new look, the Goddess Durga holds a pink lotus in each of her 90 hands, while the remaining 10 hands hold the weapons according to the mythology.

“According to the Hindu mythology, pink lotus symbolises prosperity, which people of the Sunderbans desperately need,” said idol-maker and local resident Rampada Pal.

He said the deity had been created according to a “revelation in a dream” by the Goddess.

“Mother Durga wished to be looked so in a dream. Like many people living here in the Sunderbans, I am also having a tough time financially and feel concerned about the future. So, with the 100 hands, it appears to me that Devi wanted to look like a manifestation of an omnipotent entity showering well-being and prosperity,” Pal said.

A local Trinamul Congress leader who refused to be identified said: “The Sunderbans is a geographically difficult terrain. It is true that the area has poor scope of job opportunities. Nevertheless, the state government has been trying its best to explore new avenues for jobs. In such a situation, suspension of the 100 days jobs scheme has come as a big threat to people for which only the Narendra Modi Government can be blamed.”

A local BJP leader said: “It is true that the Centre has for obvious reasons suspended the release of funds. But it is unfortunate that state government miserably failed to offer any viable alternative job opportunity to the people of the Sunderbans in the past decade.”

The Puja organisers, however, appeared to be unperturbed by the political debate. “The change in the look has been done according to the artisan's concept. There is nothing political in it. We wished to see the goddess as a more powerful entity showering us with all-pervasive happiness and prosperity,” a Puja organiser said.