The idol of Pulushbaba. Picture by Biplab Basak

Jalpaiguri, Oct. 4: Ever heard of the police being worshipped as local gods? A senior police officer of the Kotwali Police Station frowns: “What, puja of a police? Are you joking?” he asks this correspondent. He was, obviously, in for a surprise.

Its been almost 250 years since the first “Falakata Thakur” was worshipped in the Ambari-Falakata area of Jalpaiguri by Bhusan Chandra Roy’s ancestors. Roy carries on the tradition.

Locally known as the “puja of Falakata Thakur”, it is also known as the puja “of police” or “Pulushbaba.”

At Roy’s house in Chakiabhita, three earthen idols of Falakata, Tulakata and Dhunakata stand in the mandap (the place where the puja is performed). The statues are flanked on both sides by two idols of policemen, the Pulushbaba’s.

Dressed in Khaki uniform and rifle in hand, the portrayal is almost real-life-perfect, complete with the serial numbers.

Roy explains that it was his ancestors who started it all by worshipping Falakata during the rainy season to ward off the evils before the arrival of Ma Durga. The puja starts from the middle of the monsoon season and continues till Panchami, the day before the onset of the Durga Puja.

The idea of deifying the police was perhaps developed by the artisans who translated it into reality, says Roy.

The villagers of Chakiabhita will give you a more realistic explanation.

Anath Roy, an old resident said: “I had seen the Pulushbaba puja being performed since my childhood. People say that decades earlier it was the police who guarded the people against miscreants, robbers and animals. That led to the police being worshipped as the local god”.

There are many such versions as Anath Roy’s which can be heard in these areas. Roy however, refuses to support any such stance.

All he will tell you is that his ancestors had started the puja. “They started off by offering prayers to the tree ‘avatars’ of Lord Vishnu, guardian angels who warded off evil spirits before the arrival of goddess Durga,” he says.

At a time when the police force is continuously in the limelight, sometimes for failing to crack criminal cases or harassment of public or negligence of duty, the “local god” status is almost flattering.

What is more interesting is the faith that the villagers repose on Pulushbaba.

The final word was that of Radharani’s, a resident of the area.

“Our wishes come true when we pray before Pulushbaba,” she says, her face reflecting the honesty with which these rustic people kept their belief in the Khaki-clad men.