A secular group in West Bengal State’s South 24 Parganas district has put up a statue of Mother Teresa at the heart of a village market to uphold secularism.

An inter-religious gathering on August 27 watched as the statue of the world renowned Catholic nun was unveiled at Nepalgunge hatt, a well-known village market in Bishnupur block of the district, some 15 km from Kolkata, the State capital.

The Nepalgunge More Bebasahi Committee, the inter-faith group, took the initiative to install the statue.

Newly appointed Coadjutor Bishop Shyamal Bose of Baruipur joined leaders of other religions to unveil the lifesize statue of the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. They also garlanded the statue of Swami Vivekananda, a 19th century Hindu monk and social reformer.

Swami Vivekananda’s statue was installed at the market’s crossroad a few months ago. “Next to Vivekananda it was felt need of the people to install Mother’s statue,” said Sathya Ranjan Panja, secretary of the Hatt committee. “We thought the appropriate time was her 109th birth anniversary,” he told.