Senior Trinamool leader Madan Mitra has found himself in the dock recently after making Hinduphobic comments during a live debate on Zee 24 Ghanta with BJP MP Arjun Singh on the 28th of January. He claimed during the debate that Sita made beef for Parshuram and announced his inclination to move the High Court and have the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan banned.
But that was not the only bizarre comment that was made during the debate which soon devolved into mudslinging and something that could not be accurately described with words. Madan Mitra also somehow managed to link Sita to NRC.
He said, “Jai Shri Ram, we have to ban this slogan. I am going to the High Court. This is Bharatvarsha. Why are you saying Jai Shri Ram? You are excluding Sita. Can there be Ramayana without Sita? It means you have been trying to implement the NRC from the beginning.”
A visibly disgusted Arjun Singh responded saying, ‘We cannot expect better from Madan Mitra. The culture he is a part of cannot distinguish between mother and wife. He belongs to Mamata Banerjee. That is why she in such a situation.’ And this was probably the highest point of the debate. At one point, the Trinamool leader called himself the ‘crush of Bengal’.
But Madan Mitra, here, is a repeat offender. Only a few days earlier, he threatened the violence. He said, “Those from BJP listen, ‘doodh maango to kheer denge, agar Bengal maango toh chiir denge’ (if you ask for milk, we will give you kheer, But if you ask for Bengal, we will rip you off).”
After Suvendu Adhikari jumped ship to the BJP, he expressed his happiness saying that the party was free from virus now. He also said that if Mamata Banerjee does not defeat Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram by 1 lakh votes, he will cut his own wrist.
Madan Mitra started his career with the Indian National Congress. However, later, he joined the All India Trinamool Congress founded by Mamata Banerjee. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the party and even became a Minister in West Bengal. Now, he is a meme sensation in Bengali sections of social media.
There is an extremely popular Facebook page called ‘Madan Mitra at Unusual Places’ that has over eighty-six thousand likes on the platform. The page is dedicated to, as the name suggests, sharing photographs of the Trinamool leader at unusual places. Sometimes, he is shown in football matches and sometimes, in posters of popular movies.
Memes were shared where the Trinamool is shown as Hulk, Thanos or one of the other Avengers characters.
He was also shows with former US President Donald Trump on one occasion.
Madan Mitra is well aware that he is a meme on social media. However, to his credit, he does not mind being one. During an interview with Bankura Memes that was shared on YouTube, he equated the current meme culture with the work of the legendary comedian Charlie Chaplain.
During the interview, he revealed that he was once asked by a journalist from a very prominent media house why he did not take any action against those making memes on him, he responded, “How many people have been making a living by selling God? And in our land of over a billion, Ram and Sita are the ones most being sold. Some Hanumans have gathered, they don’t have Ram-Sita in their hearts, they have them in their mouths.”
He continued, “If someone is most responsible for the troll culture, if someone is most responsible for the memes, the ones responsible for vandalism…” He did not really complete the train of thought.
At another point, he said, “If someone can guarantee that they want sunglasses like mine, then I will say that please do something, vote for Trinamool Congress. I will come wearing these sunglasses in front of you however many times you want, I might even let you wear it once but I will take it back.
He was asked once during an interview why he had such a huge following among the young crowd. He went on to describe how people always prefer ‘kochi’ (kachcha/young) things. He spoke at length about the attractiveness of ‘kochi aam (kachcha mangoes)’.
‘It looks good, the size is also good,’ Madan Mitra said about ‘Kochi aam’. Unfortunately, ‘kochi’ is also used to refer to nubile women in a derogatory fashion. From his conduct, it does not appear that he was aware of that meaning while speaking.
The Trinamool leader also appeared on a TV show during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic in India covered totally in clothing. It appears sensible enough but it is a bit comical as he could have easily appeared for the interview through live stream from his home if he were so worried about the virus. But then again, perhaps he should not be mocked for exercising too much caution. It is funny nonetheless.
In 2013, the Trinamool leader boasted about how he had threatened a police officer with physical violence prior to the elections in 2011. He claims to have told the police officer, “Ekta kaan er goraay debo na, kal shokal er por khuje pawa jaabe na (I will slap you and they will not be able to find you next morning.”
In 2018, he claimed that Amit Shah looks like the dacoits from Chambal and compared Mamata Banerjee to the ‘Maa’ of Bengal. He was also arrested by the CBI in 2014 in connection with the Saradha scam. He was granted bail two years later.
Madan Mitra also loves going ‘live’ on Facebook. People on social media also claim that he is a drunkard, although we cannot verify such claims. Following the debate with Arjun Singh, YouTube and Facebook were rife with comments that he was under the influence of alcohol during the debate.
The Trinamool leader also questioned the morals of the victim in the infamous Park Street rape case and asked who would befriend strangers at 2 am in a discotheque.
Under such circumstances, it appears that there is some merit to Arjun Singh’s comments that the fact that Madan Mitra is still relevant in the party only demonstrates that the state of the party. During the debate, the Trinamool leader called Singh ‘Chor’ and ‘Lompot’ (Thief and lumpen).
