Idolatry (Murtipooja)

Idolatry is the worship of an idol or cult image, being a physical image, such as a statue, or a person in place of God.
In Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than God as if it were God.
In these monotheistic religions, idolatry has been considered as the "worship of false gods" and is forbidden by the values such as the Ten Commandments.
Other monotheistic religions may apply similar rules.
In many Indian religions, such as theistic and non-theistic forms of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, idols (murti) are considered as symbolism for the absolute but not The Absolute or icons of spiritual ideas or the embodiment of the divine. It is a means to focus one's religious pursuits and worship (bhakti).
In the traditional religions of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa, Asia, the Americas and elsewhere, the reverence of an image or statue has been a common practice, and cult images have carried different meanings and significance.
-- Wikipedia

A aniconist king argued with Swami Vivekanand, how can you believe in Idolatry? Swami Vivekanand asked, “what will you do to a person if he spits on your late mother’s painting?”. The king spontaneously answered, “I will punish him.”. Swami said that’s Idolatry.

I feel, common person needs to visualize something surrender to, probably that’s the idea behind idolatry. But now a days people are getting carried away by it and have stopped to understand the meaning behind it.