Poonam Pandey gives Mamata a headache


KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is busy dousing off the fire that a fashion model Poonam Pandey has inadvertently lit in Kolkata.

Poonam Pandey who shot to fame when she offered to strip nude if India won the 2011 cricket world cup, recently posted one of her racy pictures on Twitter and dedicated it to Indian batsman Virat Kohli after he led the Indian team to victory against Pakistan with 183 runs in the Asia Cup last week.

The Kolkata-based newspaper The Telegraph, however, published a morphed picture which showed a Pakistani cricketer bowing before a picture frame of an Indian god (Vishnu) held by a nude Poonam Pandey.

The picture went viral within a day provoking minortiy community members to come to Kolkata streets. The agitated protesters blocked roads for up to six hours throwing life out of gear in several parts of the state on Tuesday, prompting chief minister Mamata Banerjee to appeal for peace.

Even though The Telegraph has apologized for publishing Poonam Pandey's morphed picture, there is no let up in the protests in Kolkata.

On Friday, the chief minister sent an SMS to all the mobile users in Kolkata urging them to maintain peace in the state. The SMS said that certain groups were deliberately trying to disturb communal harmony in Kolkata. It added that some unscrupulous people were circulating provocative and indecent photographs to hurt religious sentiments.

"I appeal to the people to frustrate such designs of unscrupulous people and maintain peace," the chief minister urged. The SMS said that the government had started a probe to find out the culprits.