KOLKATA: The West Bengal BJP Friday hit out at Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for losing her temper when a group of men shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in front of her car, asking whether it is a crime to chant the phrase in the state.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the more Banerjee protests against the chant the more public support she would lose in West Bengal.
On Thursday, Banerjee had lost her cool when some men had shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as her motorcade passed through Bhatpara area of North 24 Parganas district.
A video on the incident had gone viral on social media.
“She doesn’t get angry at Bangladeshi infiltrators, Rohingyas, murderers and rapists. But she gets angry at young men who chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Is chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ a crime in Bengal?” BJP national general secretary and Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
“It seems she can’t digest her party’s result in Lok Sabha polls and has lost her cool,” Ghosh added.
Bhatpara had witnessed violence between BJP and TMC workers after Lok Sabha poll results were declared.
The area is a stronghold of the newly elected MP Arjun Singh, who had defected to the saffron party from TMC weeks before the Lok Sabha election. Singh defeated TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi.
On Thursday, after the slogan was raised, an infuriated Banerjee came out of her vehicle and asked her security officials to note down the name of the men.
“What do you think of yourself? You will come from other states, stay here and abuse us? I will not tolerate this. How dare you all abuse me? All of your names and details will be noted down,” she could be heard saying in the video.
After she got back into her car, the men again chanted “Jai Shri Ram”, prompting her to disembark from the vehicle once more.
Later, addressing a protest programme at Naihati, Banerjee said some BJP workers came in front of her car and abused her verbally.
“Is this democracy,” she asked.
The incident brought back memories of a similar episode earlier this month in West Midnapore district. A video had showed Banerjee losing her temper when some men chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at her motorcade.
In that video, Banerjee was seen angrily coming out of her car and saying that the men were mouthing abuses. PTI
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