Now, TMC MP Mahua Moitra booked in Bhopal over controversial Kali remarks

BHOPAL: While the TMC distanced itself from the controversial remarks of its Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra about goddess Kali, a tea shop owner in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal has lodged an FIR against the TMC MP in the same matter.

A case under Section 295A IPC (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) was registered at the Crime Branch police station of the Bhopal Police Commissionerate on the complaint of the tea shop owner Ramchandra Kukreja.

"I saw the video in which the TMC lawmaker was making the shocking statement about Goddess Kali at the media conclave on Tuesday. I've been running a shop near the famous Kali Temple in Bhopal's Kalighat. I pray to goddress Kali everyday at the temple for past 30 years, but never in my life, have I seen liquor or meat being offered to the goddess. How can a Lok Sabha member say such highly objectionable things," the 52-year-old Kukreja told The New Indian Express on Wednesday.

The tea shop owner also made it clear that he has no political links and has neither been pressurized to file the FIR. "I demand strict action against the TMC MP for hurting the feelings of every Kali Bhakt across the globe."

Just a short while before the FIR was lodged at the Bhopal crime branch police station, the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the mid of the first phase of the two-phase urban local body polls, had said "Hindu religious sentiments have been hurt by Mahua Moitra's statements. Insult of Hindu deities won't be tolerated at any cost."

But unperturbed by the development, the Krishnanagar MP tweeted, "Bring it on BJP! I'm a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need back up forces. Jai Ma Kali! The goddess Bengalis worship is fearless & non-appeasing," she tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, while participating in a media event, the TMC MP had reportedly said that she has every right to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat eating and alcohol-accepting deity.