BJP leader Subramanian Swamy sparked speculations across social media and political circles after he showered praise on TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and met her in West Bengal. Taking to Twitter, Subramanian Swamy said that Mamata Banerjee, like other tall leaders in his opinion, said what she meant and meant what she said. According to him, that was a rare quality in any leader. He compared Mamata Banerjee to JP, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao.
Of the all the politicians I have met or worked with, Mamata Banerjee ranks with JP, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao who meant what they said and said what they meant. In Indian politics that is a rare quality
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) November 24, 2021
On his part, Swamy retweeted tweets that praised him for “raising the issue” of “atrocity against Hindus” in West Bengal, insinuating that the government did not do anything but Swamy was in Bengal to raise issues of the atrocity with Mamata Banerjee. It is pertinent to note that a reign of terror had been unleashed after the recent assembly elections where TMC goons and Muslim mobs went on a rampage murdering BJP workers and raping women.
While Swamy showered praises on Mamata Banerjee and bathed in the glory of his fans praising him, some of his tweets indicated a very different story.
Swamy took to Twitter and declared that he will meet the police officials in Bengal and “fact check” the post-poll violence 6 months after it began in May. This was tweeted on 25th November while he had retweeted tweets praising himself for bringing up ‘atrocity against Hindus’ in Bengal with Mamta Banerjee a day prior to that.
Around mid Dec.I will go with a VHS team to Bengal to assess the situation that developed recently in some parts of the State. I will talk to officials for doing a fact check. I recall CM Mamata three years ago responding favourably when I told her about freeing Tarkeshwar Temple
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) November 25, 2021
“Around mid Dec.I will go with a VHS team to Bengal to assess the situation that developed recently in some parts of the State. I will talk to officials for doing a fact check. I recall CM Mamata three years ago responding favourably when I told her about freeing Tarkeshwar Temple”, Swamy tweeted after questions were raised on his intentions.
There are two operative parts of these tweets that Swamy has craftily written. Swamy first said that he will be talking to officials “for doing a fact check”. Doing a fact-check would essentially mean that Swamy doubts the post-poll violence was real, or had the same intensity and reported, and therefore, would “fact check” the reports on violence to shield Mamata. The second part of the tweet was far more interesting. After insinuating that he would attempt to give a free pass to Mamata in the post-poll violence case, Swamy proceeded to paint Mamata as a “good Hindu leader” by saying that she had favoured the freeing of Tarkeshwar temple from government control”.
After Swamy met and praised Mamata, several individuals asked the BJP leader, who likes to call himself a ‘Virat Hindu’ why he was meeting Mamata Banerjee after Hindus had been murdered brutally in her regime. Responding to these questions, Swamy lashed out at people claiming that they should be asking this question to the central government and not him.
When told that law and order is a state subject, Swamy lashed out again, citing the examples of forces in Kashmir.
In an attempt to shield himself from criticism, Swamy misled his readers in comparing the situations of Bengal and Kashmir. Kashmir is a Union Territory and comes under AFSPA. Being a “disturbed area”, the Armed forces and even the paramilitary forces are required to be there to maintain peace and sovereignty of the nation. While raising questions against the central government and the party leadership for their silence on Bengal violence is legitimate, Swamy here seems to be trying to shift the entire blame from Mamata Banerjee.
It is also pertinent to note that in May itself, the Ministry of Home Affairs had sought a report from the Mamata Banerjee government detailing the post-poll violence and what steps were being taken to bring it under control. The state government had simply refused to submit the report to MHA despite reminder letters. In August, the central government had told the Calcutta HC that central agencies like NIA were ready to probe the post-poll violence and assist the state police. It was, however, the court that had refused to do so saying that the timing might not be appropriate to transfer the cases with the state police to central agencies. The court had, before this, asked the NHRC to constitute a committee and investigate the cases of violence and the resultant report had exposed brutal violence against BJP workers in the state. Mamata Banerjee on her part had called even the NHRC report “partisan” and an assault on an elected state government.
Swamy seems to have skipped over the entire sequence of events to essentially give Mamata Banerjee a clean chit.
This is not the first time that Swamy has showered praise on Mamata and given her reign of terror a free pass. In 2020, Swamy had responded to a tweet criticising her politics, saying: “According to me Mamata Banerjee is a pucca Hindu and Durga Bhakt. On a case by case basis she will act. Her politics is different. That we will fight in the maidan.”
According to Indian Express, Swamy gave a cryptic response when asked about him joining TMC. “I was already with her (Mamata). There is no need for me to join the party,” he told reporters.
