West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to lay the foundation stone of ‘Durga Angan’ on Monday, a temple dedicated to Maa Durga and also a proposed center for cultural and community space. The stone laying ceremony will take place around 4PM near Newton Bus Stand by CM Banerjee.
According to official sources, the Durga Angan project is envisioned as a platform to celebrate Bengal’s cultural heritage, particularly its association with Durga Puja, while also serving as a public space for cultural activities. “Kolkata stands resplendent tonight, bathed in a radiant, luminous glow as the city prepares for the foundation stone laying of Durga Angan by Smt. @MamataOfficial. Bengal rejoices with heartfelt pride and collective reverence for a temple complex devoted to Maa Durga, a divine symbol of courage, compassion, and unity,” All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) wrote on their X handle.
Durga Angan, a permanent temple complex in New Town, is designed to celebrate Bengal’s rich Durga Puja heritage year-around. CM Banerjee’s brainchild, Durga Angan, aims to be one of the region’s largest cultural and religious landmarks, showcasing traditional arts, crafts and cultural activities alongside devotional spaces for Durga and other deities. The development — backed by the West Bengal government and planned with an estimated investment of around ₹262 crore over 17 acres of land— will be managed through a dedicated trust and constructed by the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO). Once completed, it is expected to serve as a cultural hub and tourism attraction much like the state’s Jagannath Dham in Digha, East Midnapore.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has questioned the intent and timing of the initiative.
BJP alleged that the ruling TMC is attempting to politicise religion and culture for electoral gains. BJP leaders argued that public funds should be prioritised for development, employment generation, and infrastructure rather than what they termed as “symbolic projects.”
Taking to X, BJP’s Bengal Observer Amit Malviya wrote, “Mamata Banerjee has now turned her gaze to defiling the sanctity of Maa Durga. Her so-called Durga Angan project is steeped in appeasement and fakery, the very hallmarks of her politics. It mocks the faith and beliefs of Bengali Hindus, reducing devotion to a cynical exercise in vote-bank management.”
Malviya further claimed that land on which the proposed temple is to be built “was originally earmarked for industrial units. Since no industry ever came up, the land has been conveniently grabbed.” He further alleged that the original site chosen for the project belonged to a minority community and the site was “hastily changed to appease a section” of the community. “This is governance driven by panic, appeasement overriding planning, and crores of public money wasted for political convenience, at the cost of faith, transparency, and public trust. This is governance driven by panic, appeasement overriding planning, and crores of public money wasted for political convenience, at the cost of faith, transparency, and public trust.” He wrote.
The TMC, in response, dismissed the criticism, stating that promoting Bengal’s cultural identity is an integral part of governance and accused the BJP of repeatedly undermining the state’s traditions. “This bohiragoto outsider is too alien, too disconnected from our land to grasp the profound sentimental bond Bengalis share with Maa Durga… He represents the Party that blasphemously questioned Maa Durga's ancestry. He’s seething with jealousy because Bengal celebrates faith in unity and harmony. So, by your own twisted standards, doesn’t labeling Durga Angan “fakery” and “cynical exercise” crown you the ultimate anti-Hindu hypocrite, Malware?,” AITC Social Media State President Debangshu Bhattachrya wrote responding to Malviya’s post on X.
