Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC,), on Friday, at 24 Parganas, West Bengal, took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) proposal of organising rath yatras in the State.
Ms. Banerjee said, “ISKCON conducts Rath Yatra here, it is Sri Jagganath’s rath yatra not a yatra to kill people. A Rath Yatra is not meant to kill people, otherwise, it is a danga. Yatra there is Sri Krishna’s Rath Yatra, Sri Jagganath’s yatra and we all respect it.”
Mamata Banerjee, yesterday, addressed an event organised by the State Government to distribute the benefits of Government welfare schemes among the poor.
Ms. Banerjee, during the event, spoke about the importance of rath yatras and criticised the Modi led BJP for their attempts to create chaos and disturb the harmony of the State during the yatras.
She further claimed, the BJP leaders are ‘bhogis’ (people who indulge in materialism) and said, “These so-called ‘yogis’ (holy men) are not ‘yogis’ but they are ‘bhogis’. They’ve suddenly started giving diktats to people on religion. Who are they to decide? My faith is my choice. We are secular, pray to all Gods and respect all religions. We love the Hindu religion as much as Islam, Sikh religion and Christianity.”
Ms. Banerjee’s digs at the BJP come after the Party asked the State Government for permission to conduct its ‘Save Democracy’ rallies in the State. Although a single bench of the Calcutta HC initially approved the request, the State Government retaliated to the decision. This led to another bench of the Calcutta HC asking the single bench to hear the case once more. After this, the single bench declared, its decision stands cancelled.
Following the denial, the BJP filed a petition against the orders of the Calcutta HC and sought an urgent hearing. However, the Supreme Court (SC) denied to conduct a hearing regarding the same and said, the matter would be heard as a normal case and not as an urgent one.
The hearing will only be held once the Supreme Court opens after its winter holidays.
