On Wednesday, as she trod the path of “soft Hindutva” to court the majority Hindus in communally cleaved Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee said “I am a daughter of a Hindu family”, and went on to recite ”Chandi Path”.
The Trinamool leader had toured 12 temples in just two days by the time she was immobilized and restricted to a hospital bed in Kolkata following an accident at the hustings, which the Trinamool believed was a plot to “take her life” and the BJP a “well-scripted drama.”
Nandigram, which first made national news in the mid-2000s as a result of Ms. Banerjee’s anti-land annexation protests, has resurfaced after the West Bengal CM decided to face off against her longtime protege Suvendu Adhikari on his home ground. He joined the BJP in December 2020.
Ms. Banerjee toured 12 temples and a mazaar during her Nandigram campaign, which was ended prematurely after she was injured.
Various Leaders’ Statements On the Actions By Banerjee:
Mr. Adhikari, who said that Ms. Banerjee recited the ”Chandi Path” wrong, called Mamata an “adulterated Hindu who cannot wash away the sins of appeasement politics”.
“We don’t believe in communal politics, unlike the BJP. Suvendu is a traitor and has forgotten all the ideals that he had learned in Congress and TMC. That is why he is trying to make it a fight between the Hindus and Muslims. We have no religious agenda,” senior Trinamool MP Saugato Roy told.
Hitting back, Mr. Adhikari asked the requirement for the chief minister to visit these many temples. “Banerjee decided to contest from the seat due to the 30 percent population of a specific community. You see the leaders who are moving around with her in Nandigram and you will understand,” he told.
“I am a Hindu, and I don’t want to divide communities. It is the TMC which is trying to drive a wedge between them with its appeasement politics,” Mr. Adhikari added.
“If Suvendu manages to consolidate Hindu votes given the communally charged atmosphere in Nandigram, things might get difficult (for TMC),” he said.
“Both the TMC and BJP are trying to communally polarise the voters of the state. We will resist it and fight for the rights of the masses,” CPI(M)’s Purba Medinipur district secretary Niranjan Sihi stated.
Local BJP leader Sabuj Pradhan claimed, “Nandigram is sitting on a tinderbox, and only the appeasement politics of Banerjee is responsible for it. If you deny the majority community its rights, you will have to face the consequences.”
