Isro’s Chandrayaan is the theme for a Durga puja pandal in Bengal

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A forty-foot high model of Chandrayaan 2 stands tall in Midnapore town of West Bengal, paying tribute to India’s towering space programme and pulling crowds of devotees to the uniquely designed pandal showcasing Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)’s last space odyssey.

A video of the mission released by Isro also plays inside the pandal complementing the theme. The local Sekhpura Sarbajanin Durga Puja Committee, which came up with the idea, says the inspiration was there since the day of the launch of the lunar mission.

“We thought about the idea since the day the rocket was sent from Satish Dhawan Space Centre,” said Abhiskek Basu, secretary of the puja committee.

Though the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle or the rocket that took the lunar mission into space was about 3.5 times taller—at 43.43 metres, Basu said the idea was a hit with thousands of curious and excited puja devotees and revelers.

“We have not witnessed such rush in earlier years,” said Basu.

“Though links with Vikram lander snapped just before it was scheduled to land on the moon, the overall success of the mission cannot be ignored. We congratulate Isro and want to say that the whole nation is with them,” said the puja committee secretary.

Basu says the Chandrayaan idea was not merely for drawing crowds but had a deeper purpose too.

“We are also praying to the goddess that such missions become 100 per cent successful in future,” Basu said.

Dilip Ghosh, the local MP and the president of the Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, inaugurated the puja on October 3.

“Though I have never stepped in a rocket, and am unlikely to do so in future as well, this pandal gives me a feeling that I am aboard a rocket. Isro’s feat has made us all proud. This puja reflects the wish of all Indians,” said Ghosh after inaugurating the puja.

This year, the budget of Sekhpura Sarbajanin Durga Puja Committee was Rs 6 lakh. Last year, they had built a model of the Big Ben of London.

Chandrayaan 2 theme has locally also helped bridge the sharp political divide Bengal politics is known for, at least for now.

“The nation is proud of the lunar mission. A Durga puja committee is neither a political body nor its extension. It is the biggest festival in Bengal, and there is no political colour in it. Isro’s success does not belong to any political party,” said Biswanath Pandav, Trinamool Congress Midnapore town president.

“We do not want to give any political colour to any puja committee. The theme appeals to all. The organisers have done what other big committees in the state could not,” said Subhajit Roy, district general secretary of BJP.