If you ever meet Mamata Banerjee, don’t say Jai Shri Ram! She would be riled. There can be no other explanation for her appalling public behaviour, every time she hears this greeting, made familiar by the BJP, which has been on a winning roll. There is little doubt that the BJP’s historic triumph in West Bengal has not gone down well with feisty Mamata, but it will be foolhardy for a political leader to react in such a childish fashion as she has, particularly during the course of the election campaign. 

At one such meeting last month, slogans of Jai Shri Ram greeted her when she drove into Chandrakona. Mamata’s car had just entered the town when some from apparently the BJP camp raised the slogan. The Trinamool Congress chief immediately got off and asked those raising the slogans to come and talk to her. Obviously, they had decamped by then. The chief minister has on many occasions, objected to its usage, which is harming her image no end. Part of the reason why the BJP has won so many seats in the state is because of her perceived image as someone who is ‘appeasing’ the minority — read Muslim — vote bank. There can be no reason why a popular politician would publicly object to the use of a name that the country regards as one of its presiding deities. 

Surely, Mamata, as a politician would realise that the word Ram is synonymous with Hindu culture, and people are going to react negatively if someone objects to its use in this country. Her image as someone pandering to the minority community has not gone too well with the voters and such behaviour is making a bad situation become worse.