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Mamata leads all-faith march, hits out at BJP
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee led an interfaith rally in the state capital on Monday in an ideological counter-show to the BJP, which led celebrations across the country to mark the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee led an interfaith rally in the state capital on Monday in an ideological counter-show to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which led celebrations across the country to mark the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Banerjee, who began the rally from Kalighat temple in Kolkata before visiting a church, a gurdwara and a mosque, led a procession of leaders from her Trinamool Congress (TMC) and hit out at the BJP at the culmination of the event.
“I am not against Ram. I respect both Ram and Sita. But why don’t you (BJP) mention Sita’s name? Are you anti-women? Without Sita, Ram won’t be there. Ram wouldn’t have taken birth had Kaushalya not been there,” Banerjee said.
The rally had religious leaders walking behind her, holding each other’s hands, and TMC leaders, including the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee who brought up the rear of the procession.
“Kaushalya gave birth to Ram. It was Sita who went to vanvas with Ram for 14 years and also performed the agni-pariksha. Ram worshipped Goddess Durga before he slayed Ravan,” the chief minister said.
Her comments came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and led the rituals of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the new temple for the Ram Lalla idol.
“When the Babri Masjid was destroyed, more than a thousand people died, but everyone seems to have quickly forgotten about it. Yesterday, Abhishek Banerjee said he cannot uphold his religion by standing over the corpses of so many. I feel the urge to pay tribute to the deceased. Regardless of their religion, we pay homage to these departed souls,” the TMC president said. “Politics before elections should not lead to the blood of the poor being offered as Prasad. A country doesn’t run on bloodshed or division,” she added.
The BJP downplayed Banerjee’s criticisms, and hit back.
“When the (triple) talaq bill was introduced, the TMC had opposed it. Bengal tops the list of states when it comes to incidents of atrocities against women. She had stopped an immersion process of Goddess Durga while allowing a procession of a minority community. She has no moral right to call the BJP anti-women,” said BJP leader Rahul Sinha.
Women empowerment has always been a core segment of the Banerjee government’s development agenda since it assumed power.
She also lashed out at the BJP, saying that she won’t spare a single seat for the saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls.
“I am ready to give as much blood as is required but I won’t spare BJP a single seat. Everyone in my family has been branded a thief because I speak against them (BJP). Who are you? When you won’t remain in power, people would get to know where did the country’s money go, how was it siphoned and who were the beneficiaries. It filled the BJP’s coffers,” she said.
