The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday continued to spar over Jai Shri Ram slogans being raised at an event at Victoria Memorial Hall on Saturday. At an event to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was upset by chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ . She refused to speak at the event, saying she felt insulted
Trinamool Congress MP and head of party youth wing Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday again emphasised that the Chief Minister was insulted at the event.
“The BJP is trying to dirty the soil of Bengal by bringing in religion. The contest for Bengal will be between 10 crore people of the State and a jumla party [referring to the BJP],” Mr. Banerjee said. The Diamond Harbour MP, who was addressing a gathering at Kultali in South 24 Parganas ], referred to the attack on the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 2019 during an election rally and said the BJP had history of insulting national icons. “Those who have insulted Netaji should be thrown out from the State,” the nephew of Ms. Banerjee said.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Minister Firhad Hakim said it was not proper for the BJP to bring in “Netaji in petty politics.” The Trinamool Congress leadership also held a press conference at the party headquarters where senior party leader Bratya Basu said the development at Victoria Memorial was unfortunate and brought shame to the people of the State. “Never have I been prouder to be part of Mamatadi’s team. In an ocean of monkeys, she stands out as the lone lioness,” TMC MP Mahua Moitra said.
BJP national general secretary Kaliash Vijayvargiya said that by not speaking at the event, Ms. Banerjee had insulted Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Mr. Vijayvargiya raised questions as to what problems the Chief Minister had with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants which was meant as greeting to the leaders.
Certain BJP leaders such as Amit Malviya and Union Minister Babul Supriyo referred to an incident in Ahmedabad in 2013 when Mr. Modi was shown black flags. “Mamata Banerjee didn’t cover herself or the office she holds in glory by reacting the way she did on the occasion of Netaji’s birth anniversary. There is much she could learn from the way Prime Minister Modi handled a similar situation in Ahmedabad in 2013,” said Mr. Malviya, who is also co-observer of West Bengal BJP.
“Incident in Ahmedabad in 2013 and Kolkata in 2021 had many similarities-birth anniversary prog. of leading figures of the Indian freedom struggle, the PM & CM of the day belonging to different parties. But to CM Modi’s credit then and PM Modi’s credit now, there was no politics,” Mr. Supriyo said.
Other than representatives of the political parties, members of civil society also aired their opinion on the issue. Former TMC MP and singer Kabir Suman stood with a placard with “Joy Bangla” written on it to protest against the incident.