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BJP leader calls Mamata Banerjee ‘eunuch’ for participating in Islamic rituals
TMC hit back and accused the BJP of trying to induct a “rotten culture” in the state.
The BJP is fighting a storm of criticism in West Bengal after a state-level party leader described chief minister Mamata Banerjee as a “eunuch” for participating in Islamic religious rituals.
The ruling Trinamool Congress and other parties have called the comments as indicative of the BJP’s “rotten culture” and Kolkata’s transgender activists have condemned what they see as an undesirable attitude towards the community and a woman politician.
BJP leader Shyamapada Mondal made the reference while addressing a meeting in West Midnapore district of West Bengal on Monday.
“These days Mamata Banerjee is attending Namaz ,wearing hijabs and shouting ‘Allah Ho Akbar’ there. All these amount to drama. Sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the chief minister is a male or female. We come across eunuchs in trains. Our chief minister is such a eunuch,” Mondal said at the meeting.
This is not the first time that BJP leaders have showered abuses on the chief minister.
Only in the second week of April youth BJP leader Yogesh Varshney announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anybody who beheaded Mamata Banerjee. Last December, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the chief minister should be pulled by her hair.
Lashing out at the BJP leader’s comment, Trinamool Congress secretary general and state education minister Partha Chatterjee said that such a culture was unthinkable in West Bengal. “Such comments are unheard of in the political culture of West Bengal. It is BJP who is trying to induct such rotten culture in the state,” Chatterjee told HT.
City-based activist Raina Roy also hit out at Mondal for the remarks. “Does he want to imply that the people of the transgender community are beggars? Stories of successes from the community are present in all professions. He should do some homework,” Raina said.
