Errors should be rectified, says Didi; Mahua Moitra fires fresh salvo

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday defended her recent comments on the “meat-eating and alcohol-accepting” Goddess Kali and said she would continue to resist “the BJP’s attempt to foist a brand of aggressive, North Indian Hindutva on Bengalis”. “Don’t come to Bengal to teach us how to worship our goddess,” she said.
Moitra’s comments came a few hours after Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee told a gathering of educationists and students on Thursday that there was a propensity in some people “to create controversies revolving around some negative comments”. Without specifying which “controversy” she was referring to, the CM went on to add, “But there is so much creativity in our work, which is unique, that is not highlighted.”

“There may be some errors while working. Even Netaji spoke about making mistakes while trying to do something. Those who do not do anything can never make a mistake. I am not talking about wilful mistakes but, if there is any error, it should be rectified,” the CM said.
Moitra, in the course of an interview with a Bengali channel a few hours after Banerjee’s speech, said she was “a loyal soldier of Mamata Banerjee’s party” and would continue to fight the BJP’s brand of “aggressive, North Indian Hindutva”. “The people of Bengal are laughing at the antics of the BJP’s monkey vahini,” Moitra said, adding that the BJP had not “taken lease of the Hindu religion”.
The Trinamool MP, showing off three amulets on her wrist that she got from the Tarapith temple, stressed that it was an age-old practice to give “alcohol and meat” as offerings to the temple’s deity, Goddess Kali. “I myself am a worshipper of Ma Kali. How dare the BJP try to appropriate my goddess?” she asked, adding that her comments were based on “reality”. “It is the BJP that has hurt my religious sentiments,” she said.
“We need a little bit of intelligence to understand the distinction between (suspended BJP spokesperson) Nupur Sharma’s comments (on Prophet Muhammad) and my comments on Ma Kali. Sharma, as a Hindu, was saying something hurtful about another religion. But I, as a practising Hindu, was saying something based on reality about my own religion,” she said, insisting that her original comments on Tuesday were “not about the ‘Kaali’ film poster”.
Moitra dared the BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to bring a bill in the Bengal assembly saying the practices at the Tarapith temple hurt Hindu sentiments. “If there is an iota of mistake in my statements, they should file an affidavit placing on record that this does not happen in Ujjain, in Kamakhya, in Tarapith,” Moitra told TOI.
“I am not interested in who defends me, who does not. Truth does not need any back-up,” she added.
But she seemed to get some support from fellow Trinamool MP Satabdi Roy, who said on Thursday that it was a known fact that “sura (spirits)” was given as an offering at the Tarapith temple; she, however, condemned the ‘Kaali’ poster depicting the goddess smoking.
Moitra has been in the eye of a political storm over her comments on the “meat-eating and alcohol-accepting” Goddess Kali. The Trinamool Congress itself has “strongly condemned” her comments and said they were “made in her personal capacity” and were “not endorsed by the party”. BJP leaders and workers have filed complaints against Moitra at several police stations in Bengal, prompting the Trinamool MP to ask the BJP “to bring it on”.
But the official Trinamool statement distancing itself from Moitra’s post has also been questioned by several active social media handles known to back the party. Several pro-Trinamool handles have posted media clips and videos of Kali Puja bhogs, questioning whether Moitra had said anything wrong.