Kolkata: The row between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress over the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan shows no signs of abating with the saffron party now deciding to send ‘Get Well Soon’ messages to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Reacting to Banerjee losing her cool on BJP activists chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Union minister Babul Supriyo said: “She is the cause for so many memes on social media, it is not good for anyone. From my constituency Asansol, we will send ‘Get Well Soon’ cards to Mamata Banerjee. Something is definitely not well with Didi, and she needs to answer that."
He added, “She is an experienced politician but her behaviour is abnormal and bizarre. She should keep in mind the dignity of the post she holds. She should take a break for a few days. She’s rattled by the BJP's presence in Bengal."
Earlier, the BJP had decided to send 10 lakh post cards with "Jai Shri Ram" written on them to the Bengal CM after police lathicharged a group of saffron party workers who were chanting "Jai Shri Ram" during a demonstration outside a property where TMC leaders were holding a meeting.
Not one to keep mum, Banerjee and front-ranking leaders of her TMC changed their display picture on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to ‘Jay Hind, Jay Bangla’ on Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee in a detailed Facebook post accused the BJP of mixing religion with politics and urged people to deter any sort of chaos and unrest.
The picture of Trinamool's official Twitter and Facebook accounts also were changed to 'Jay Hind, Jay Bangla' with pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, revolutionary leaders Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Matangini Hazra, Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, and rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Photos of leading 19th century Bengal Renaissance figures like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, as also religious and social thinker Swami Vivekananda and father of Indian Constitution BR Ambedkar were part of the new display pictures.
“Jai Sia Ram, Jai Ram ji ki, Ram Naam Satya hai etc. have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments. But BJP is using religious slogan Jai Sri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics," Banerjee wrote in her Facebook post.
“We do not respect this forcible enforcement of political slogans on others in the name of so-called RSS which Bengal never accepted. This is a deliberate attempt to sell hatred ideology through vandalism and violence which we must oppose together," she added.
Clarifying that she has no issues with any party slogan, she wrote: "I have no problem, regarding any particular slogan of political parties in their rallies, and for their party purpose. Every political party has their own slogan. My party has Jai Hind, Vande Mataram. The Left has Inquilab Zindabad. Others have different slogans. We respect each other."
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