She was to be worshiped as a deity on Ashtami at the kumari puja of Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra in DD Block. The next day, on Navami, Swastika Gayan, an eight-year-old chosen to be worshiped as kumari in BD Block, reached the venue by auto-rickshaw, driven by her father Kartik. He referred to Swami Vivekananda worshipping the daughter of a Muslim boatman as kumari in Kashmir in August 1898. We wanted to make it clear that Durga puja is not a celebration exclusive to any religion. Swastika’s name was suggested as kumari by one of her teachers at Ananda Tirtha in AC Block.

Source: The Telegraph October 19, 2019 12:45 UTC