As TMC goons continue violence against political violence in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has called peaceful Hindus chanting Jai Shri Ram ‘cowards’ in a public meeting on 3rd March 2022 near Varanasi, where she was addressing the voters while campaigning for the Samajwadi Party candidates in the ongoing assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh. Mamata Banerjee was welcomed by some Hindus of Varanasi on 2nd March with the chants of Jai Shri Ram. Hindus in Varanasi were registering their protest against the genocide of Hindus happening in West Bengal under her rule.
In her address in this election rally, Mamata Banerjee has said, “I am not scared. I am not a coward. I am a fighter. I faced thrashings & bullets several times in my life. But I never bowed down. Yesterday when they were surrounding me, I got down from my car & faced them to see what they can do. They are cowards.”
It is notable that whether on the streets of Varanasi or on the Ghats at the time of the Ganga Arti, Hindus in Varanasi were peacefully protesting Mamata Banerjee by the chants of Jai Shri Ram and none of them was involved in any kind of violence. It is clearly seen in the videos that the Hindu protestors were well away from her even when she had stepped down of her vehicle.
ममता पिशि को बनारसी लोगों का काला झंडा दिखाकर जय श्री राम से स्वागत करना कैसा लगा?? pic.twitter.com/pWbzl0c4gT
— Shashi Kumar (@iShashiShekhar) March 2, 2022
But accusing them of hitting her car with sticks, which apparently is an act equivalent to violence, Mamata Banerjee has said in this public meeting, “Yesterday, when I was going to Ghat from the airport, I saw some BJP workers -who have nothing else except hooliganism in their brains- stopping my vehicle. They hit my car with sticks & told me to go back. Then I realized that they were gone. Their (BJP) loss is imminent.”
Mamata Bannerjee had the taste of her own medicine.
— Shashi Kumar (@iShashiShekhar) March 2, 2022
She faced huge protest in Varanasi. People didn’t let her cavalcade move, welcomed her with black flags and Jai Shri Ram
She had to cancel so many of her scheduled program pic.twitter.com/4UlmjNfqvf
Also, Mamata Banerjee has not made it clear what exactly was she expecting from the peaceful Hindus while saying “I got down from my car & faced them to see what they can do. They are cowards.” Was she expecting them to imitate the TMC goons who commit all sorts of crimes against humanity in general and Hindu humans in particular quite easily so that she would be able to play the victim and try to gain some political mileage? Well, her history with this Jai Shri Ram chant is enough to clear the correlations between her acts and intentions.
Mamata Banerjee’s intolerance with Jai Shri Ram
Mamata Banerjee’s intolerance with the chants of Jai Shri Ram is not a new thing. Time and again she had proved her hatred towards Hindus and the specific chant. In May 2019, soon after the BJP had secured a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections with 18 seats in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal police had arrested 10 people from Barrackpore for chanting slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in North 24 Parganas at Mamata Banerjee’s convoy. Accusing the BJP of pitting non-Bengalis against Bengalis, Mamata had asked the police to immediately take down names of those chanting the slogans so that stern action could be initiated against them. This was not only an aggressive use of power, but it also highlights cowardice because in this case someone as powerful as a chief minister of a state is seen getting disturbed by a simple nonviolent protest by innocent Hindus just chanting Jai Shri Ram.
TIMES NOW EXCLUSIVE: West Bengal: 10 people have been arrested for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans at WB CM @MamataOfficial‘s convoy yesterday.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 31, 2019
More details by @SreyashiDey in conversation with @preetiddahiya. pic.twitter.com/PzgpayBa9y
Even before that, while in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee had stepped down from her vehicle to yell at those who were registering their protest by chanting Jai Shri Ram.
Watch-
— Saahil Murli Menghani (@saahilmenghani) May 4, 2019
Mamata Banerjee hears some people chanting “JAI SHRI RAM”.
She gets down from car & confronts those people.
Location- Chandrakona, West Midnapore, West Bengal pic.twitter.com/ielx8NACKB
In January 2021, she was seen walking out of the stage refusing to address the public gathered at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial for Netaji birth anniversary celebrations, because the crowd was chanting Jai Shri Ram. Mamata Banerjee who was sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamented of “being disrespected” because she could not stand the slogans of Jai Shree Ram, Bharat Mata ki Jai, etc when she was invited to address the event.
भारत माता की जय, जय श्रीराम,जय हिंद, जय बांग्ला के नारे के बाद उखड़ी ममता बैनर्जी, कहा सरकार के कार्यक्रम की अपनी गरिमा होती है, ये राजनीतिक कार्यक्रम नहीं है, मै आभारी हूँ कि कोलकाता में प्रोग्राम बनाया लेकिन किसी को बेज़्ज़त करना ठीक नहीं #NetajiSubhasChandraBose pic.twitter.com/05e8pYtwfV
— Vikas Bhadauria (@vikasbha) January 23, 2021
Murders and rapes of Hindus in Bengal
It must be noted that genocide of Hindus has been a phenomenon West Bengal under the rule of Mamata Banerjee has become infamous in recent years. After the state assembly elections of 2021, the Hindu genocide and rapes of Hindu girls in Bengal were not only paced up but also being normalized by the state machinery. Any attempt to oppose this violence or assert the rights of the oppressed Hindus was casually termed as bigotry.
Efforts were made by the state police to silence the media voices reporting the pains and sufferings of these Hindus and exposing the involvement of the state machinery and TMC goons in those heinous crimes. These malicious efforts by the West Bengal government were later slammed by the Supreme Court.
Recently Municipal elections took place in West Bengal. 108 municipal bodies underwent the elections only to witness the next episode of violent activities by the TMC goons who attacked the media persons and the workers, candidates, and leaders of oppositions parties including the BJP and CPI(M). Capturing polling booths and hurling bombs at the people of opposite parties are skills TMC goons are best at. Several BJP leaders like Arjun Singh and Suvendu Adhikari have been their targets on different occasions.
On this backdrop, Mamata Banerjee calling peaceful Hindus chanting Jai Shri Ram ‘cowards’ in the rally organized near Varanasi to campaign for the Samajwadi Party candidates in Uttar Pradesh is one of her so-called firm steps against the BJP that is most likely to help the national party secure a yet bigger victory in the biggest state to give another term to Yogi Adityanath as the CM of Uttar Pradesh.