Kolkata: The BJP and the Trinamool Congress find themselves locked in a fresh face-off following a comment made by MP Kalyan Banerjee, who represents the latter party in the Lok Sabha, where he invoked the Ramayan to criticise the BJP.
Addressing a public meeting at Howrah district Saturday evening, Kalyan Banerjee said Sita was lucky to be abducted by Ravana.
“Sita told Ram that had she been taken by his (Ram’s) chele (disciples), she would have faced a similar fate as the rape victim of Hathras did,” Banerjee added, referring to the alleged gang rape and murder of a Dalit woman last year in Uttar Pradesh.
The comment came as he sought to criticise the BJP, which has emerged as the Trinamool’s biggest opponent in the upcoming Bengal assembly election, and its government in Uttar Pradesh.
While the Trinamool Congress sought to defend the MP, the BJP accused the MP of hurting religious sentiments, and alleged that police in Kolkata and Howrah refused to register their complaints against him.
‘Distasteful statement’
Speaking to ThePrint, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said the “distasteful” statement by the Trinamool MP shows “their culture”.
Referring to the video of Banerjee’s address, he said, “One can hear noise of public cheering and clapping while he was making such disgraceful comments. It is understandable why he said all this. The Trinamool always tries to appease one community. This is an ugly reflection of the Trinamool’s appeasement politics.
“They do not care about 70 per cent of the people of the state, they are a government for 30 per cent only,” he added.
Muslims are said to comprise an estimated 30 per cent of Bengal’s population.
“We tried to lodge complaints with Kolkata Police and Howrah Police. But they refused to register them. These comments have hurt the religious sentiment of a community. Can anyone get away with such atrocious comments against another community?” he said. “We are still calm. It shows our culture of tolerance.”
Asked about the complaints allegedly raised by the BJP, a senior official of Kolkata Police said, “We have to see what exactly was said and we need to see the content of the FIR, if any. As of now, we have not received any written complaint.”
A senior police official at Howrah said they will look into the matter. “Kalyan Banerjee is Hindu too. So, the allegation of hurting religious sentiments does not stand. But we will look into it,” the official added.
‘BJP fomenting trouble’
Defending Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress said the BJP “is in Bengal to just foment trouble”.
“They are inciting violence by misrepresenting Kalyan’s comment. He did not insult the deities. He made the comment about BJP members, not about gods and goddesses. But, the BJP always tries to spin everything the communal way,” said veteran Trinamool leader and state minister Subrata Mukherjee.
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