Ram temple inauguration a ‘gimmick show’ ahead of elections, says Mamata Banerjee
Telegraph | 11 January 2024
Mamata Banerjee, in her first unambiguous public response to the scheduled Ram temple inauguration at Ayodhya, said on Tuesday she believed festivals should be for everyone and suggested she had better things to do than comment on the “gimmick show” planned with an eye on the election.
At a state government event at Jaynagar in South 24-Parganas, the Bengal chief minister brought up the temple inauguration, on which her views have been sought by journalists on several occasions. Before this, she had been non-committal.
“Yesterday, they (journalists) were asking me, ‘What is your comment on the Ram temple?’ As if I have nothing else to do, just that one thing. I said, ‘Religions are personal, festivals are universal’. I believe in the festival that takes everybody along, speaks of everyone, speaks of unity,” she said, underscoring the pluralist, inclusive ethos that occupies the core of her politics.
Without naming anyone, she said: “You are doing it, go right ahead. Who is objecting to it?”
“You are doing it under the court. You are doing it for a gimmick show ahead of the election. I have no objection.”
Mamata continued: “But
neglecting people of other communities cannot be somebody’s job.”
Asked
whether Trinamul would be represented at the January 22 event in Ayodha,
sources said that Mamata or
her second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee were unlikely to be present. The
sources, however, said that a couple of senior MPs would likely represent the
party.
Mamata, the sources said, was wary of the propaganda overdrive
to bring
the temple to the centre stage ahead of the general election, sweeping the
“real, pro-people” issues under the carpet.
“Trinamul
Congress, for as long as it will exist, as long as its government exists, I
promise you, in the name of Ishwar and Allah, remember I will never allow divisive
forces to tear apart Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian- SCs-STs,” she said.
“You
saw the kind of movement we carried out against the (citizenship matrix),
brought it to a stop,” added Mamata,
who has for years tried to cement her place
as a messiah-esque figure for the downtrodden, including the minorities, both
as
an administrator and a politician. “Bengal is the land of peace. Bengal does
not divide. Bengal is the Mecca-Medina of Muslims, Dakshineswar-Belur of
Hindus, Matua Thakur-Panchanan Barma-Ambedkar of SCs and STs.”
Bilkis
verdict
Pointing
out that Trinamul leader Mahua Moitra was among those who had filed cases
against the release of 11 life convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape-and-murder
case, Mamata said it was a
“major victory” for Trinamul too.
On
Friday, the Supreme Court quashed the release of the 11, ruling that the
Gujarat government lacked the power to decide on their remission, that the
process leading to their release was “vitiated” by “fraud”, and that the state
government had been “complicit” with one of the convicts.
“Bilkis
Bano rapists were released. Our party’s Mahua Moitra, our MP who was forcibly
thrown out, she too had filed a case and was a party,” said Mamata. “This is a major victory for Trinamul
Congress,, remember this… for the sake of getting people justice,” she added.
CPM
politburo member Subhashini Ali and Moitra, who was controversially expelled as
MP, were among those who had moved court against the release of the 11.