‘Appeasement politics hurting state’
Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday launched a scathing attack against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal for its alleged appeasement politics, but stopped short of naming the chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led party.
“The soil of Bengal has always belonged to great saints such as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Swami Pranavananda, Thakur Ramkrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda among others. The tradition of Bengal is being hurt because of appeasement politics. I would like to urge the people of Bengal to perform their duties in a bid to help the state regain its lost glory,” Shah said after offering puja at the Dakshineshwar Temple on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Shah had arrived in Bengal
on Wednesday night on a twoday visit to take stock of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) organisational preparedness for the upcoming Bengal polls slated to be held in April-May next year.
The former BJP chief is likely to meet Padma Bhushan Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty and address a
rally of party leaders and workers before flying back to Delhi on Friday evening.
Earlier in 2015, Narendra Modi had become the first Prime Minister to visit the Dakshineswar temple. The shrine, where Hindu sage Ramkrishna Paramhansha had served as its priest for many years, attracts devotees of Goddess Kali from far and wide.
The BJP has been accusing the TMC of appeasing Muslims, who account for over 30% of Bengal’s population, as a part of its vote-bank politics.
In March, the BJP’s Bengal unit had tagged CM Banerjee as “anti-Hindu” in a symbolic charge sheet that was released by the party.
However, the TMC had rubbished the allegations and argued that Banerjee stood for the county’s plurality as enshrined in the Constitution.
“It is unbecoming of a Union minister to make such statements. He should have considered the place (Dakshineshwar Temple) from where he made the statements. He tried to malign the rich culture and tradition of Bengal by dragging the names of its icons. The public will not tolerate these statements,” said Tapas Roy, a state minister and a TMC leader.