Faith Shattered: Bamutia Erupts After Durga, Kali Idols Smashed in Midnight Attack

• By Thetripurapost Desk, Bamutiea
• Sep 14, 2025
• 33

Just weeks before Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bengal and Tripura, shockwaves ripped through Bamutia on Saturday after unidentified miscreants launched a midnight assault on the workshop of clay artisan Tapan Sarkar, reducing three Durga idols and a Kali idol to rubble.

The sight was nothing short of heartbreaking — half-finished idols, carefully crafted for months, lay in ruins under the broken roof of Sarkar’s workshop in Rangutia Kalibazar. The estimated loss, nearly ₹2 lakh, pales in comparison to the emotional devastation inflicted on the artisan and the community.

“As I stepped inside, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The idols we had nurtured day and night were in pieces,” Sarkar’s wife sobbed.

Within hours, the narrow lanes of Bamutia were choked with furious locals. The vandalism was seen not just as an attack on an artisan’s livelihood but as an assault on faith itself, sparking outrage and fear just days before the sacred festival.

The incident drew a flurry of political leaders — Bamutia Mandal president Shibendra Das, former MLA Krishna Dhan Das, and sitting MLA Nayan Sarkar — who condemned the act, calling it a “direct strike at community sentiments.”

Police swung into action with OC Anthony Jamatia and SDPO Sabyasachi Debnath visiting the scene and promising to “hunt down the culprits at any cost.” But with no arrests made till late night, questions loom large: Who dared to strike at the heart of devotion? And why now?

Local residents describe Tapan Sarkar as a pillar of the artisan community, his idols central to three major pujas. With Durga Puja preparations now in disarray, the community fears the shadow of this attack could darken the festival season.

For Bamutia, the wreckage of clay has become the wreckage of faith.