Kaali poster row: BJP not custodian of Hindu deities, shouldn’t teach Bengalis how to worship, says Mahua Moitra

Continuing to firefight following the widespread outrage over her controversial comments on Goddess Kali, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not the custodian of Hindu deities and it should not teach Bengalis how to worship the goddess.

She said the BJP can’t impose its views, based on ways of worshipping deities in north India, on people of other parts of the country, who have different rituals that are in vogue for the last 2,000 years.

'Mature politician'

Moitra, while speaking to a Bengali news channel on Thursday night, said she had acted as a “mature politician” by speaking on the issue as BJP’s attempt to “impose its agenda of Hindutva and thrusting its monolithic views” on other ethnic groups should be resisted and addressed once and for all for the sake of the country.

“I think I acted as a mature politician. For long, we had avoided the issue of BJP imposing its own version of Hinduism, which is based on established norms of north India. The party should desist from imposing it on people of other parts of the country such as West Bengal where Hindus follow their well-established rituals for centuries. Who is the BJP to teach us how to conduct puja of Goddess Kali in a particular way?” she said.

“Neither Lord Ram nor Lord Hanuman solely belongs to the BJP. Has the party taken the lease of Hindu dharma?” she said.

Recalling how the TMC defeated the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly elections last year, Moitra said, “It is a party of outsiders that tried to impose its Hindutva politics but was snubbed by the electorate. BJP should not teach us how to worship Maa Kali. Being a Kali bhakt (devotee), I know how to worship Kali. We had been worshipping the goddess in the same way for the past 2,000 years.”

She alleged that the BJP is on the backfoot over controversial remarks of its now-suspended spokesperson Nupur Sharma and was trying to deflect the attention to Moitra’s Kali comments, while asserting that the saffron party will not succeed.

FIRs against Moitra

On cases filed against her in different states over her remarks, Moitra said, “I challenge the respective BJP governments of these states, where FIRs have been registered, to give in writing in an affidavit to the court about offerings made to Goddess Kali.” “Can the Assam chief minister explain in writing to the court what offerings are made to the presiding deity of Kamakhya Temple? Can the chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states do the same about offerings made to Maa Kali in temples there? Is liquor not part of the offerings in these temples? BJP desperately wants to pin me down as I fiercely protest its misdeeds but I know its strategy won’t work,” she said.

'Mistakes can be rectified: CM Mamata Banerjee'

This comes only a day after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said 'people make mistakes but they can be rectified'. "We make mistakes while working but they can be rectified. Some people don't see all the good work and suddenly start shouting... Negativity affects our brain cells so let's think positively," said the chief minister while addressing a students' credit cards distribution event in Kolkata.

The comments also come at a time when the BJP has been clamouring for the chief minister to issue an clarification over Moitra's remarks, although the party had condemned them.

“The comments made by @MahuaMoitra at the #IndiaTodayConclaveEast2022 and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are not endorsed by the party in any manner or form. All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments,” the TMC said in a Twitter post on Tuesday evening.

Asked about this, Moitra said, “I am a loyal soldier of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. If there is any issue, we will get it resolved within the party. We will not discuss it in public.”

The development so far

The senior Trinamool Congress leader had stirred controversy on Tuesday at a conclave organised by a media house by saying that she has every right as an individual to imagine the deity as a “meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess, as every person has his or her unique way of offering prayers”, when asked about the row over a film poster of Kaali where a woman dresses as the deity is seen smoking a cigarette.

On Wednesday, Moitra dared the BJP to prove that whatever she said is wrong.

"I do not want to live in an India where BJP's monolithic patriarchal brahminical view of Hinduism will prevail and the rest of us will tiptoe around religion. I will defend this till I die. File your FIRs - will see you in every court in the land," tweeted Moitra.

"I challenge the BJP anywhere in the country to prove anything that I said is wrong," Moitra added.

The TMC leader has already been booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments after her comment on Goddess Kali stirred a controversy.  An FIR has been registered in Bhopal against Moitra under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for hurting religious sentiments.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Hindu religious sentiments have been hurt by Moitra's statement and that insult to Hindu deities will not be tolerated at any cost.

Reacting to the complaints against her by the BJP leaders, the TMC MP said: "Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn't need back up forces."

With input from agencies

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