KOLKATA: Amid reports that BJP was planning to send 10 lakh postcards with "Jai Shri Ram" written on them to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the latter on Sunday accused the saffron party of using the religious slogan for political gains.
The firebrand TMC chief also accused the BJP of ''mixing politics with religion'' by using the 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan.
''BJP is mixing religion with politics by using 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan,'' the West Bengal Chief Minister said on Sunday.
Criticising the BJP, the TMC supremo alleged that the party ruling at the Centre and its leaders are using the religious slogan 'Jai Shri Ram'' as their party slogan in a "misconceived manner".
We wish to inform the people that some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media - My FB post >> https://t.co/R9EYTCyU5e pic.twitter.com/YQMV7HMfHY
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 2, 2019
Mamata took to Facebook and wrote that "some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media - the so-called BJP media and the so-called fake video, fake news, misinformation and disinformation to create confusion and to suppress truth and reality."
"From Ram Mohan Roy to Vidyasagar to other great social reformers, Bengal has been a seat of harmony, progress and forward thinking. But now, the misconceived strategy of BJP is targeting Bengal in a very negative manner," she wrote in her Facebook post.
The TMC leader went on to add that she has "no problem" with any particular slogan of political parties.
"Every political party has its own slogan. My party has Jai Hind, Vande Mataram. The Left has Inquilab Zindabad. Others have different slogans. We respect each other... Jai Sia Ram, Jai Ram Ji ki, Ram Naam Satya hai etc have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments," Banerjee added.
"But BJP is using religious slogan Jai Sri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics. Deliberate attempts are being made to propagate the ideology of hatred through vandalism and violence, which must be opposed,'' the West Bengal CM said.
Banerjee went to suggest that it is "high time that proper action is taken to restrain political workers from indulging in activities of creating unrest, chaos, violence and disruption of normal life by taking recourse to misplaced ideologies in the so-called name of religion to create a divide among the people."
It may be recalled that Banerjee had on May 30 confronted a group of people chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan in North 24 Parganas saying, "they are BJP people and criminals from outside the state."
Later, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh slammed Banerjee, saying that the Chief Minister has completely lost her mind after her party's debacle in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Earlier today, newly-elected BJP MP Arjun Singh said that his party will send 10 lakh postcards with `Jai Sri Ram` written on them to the West Bengal Chief Minister and challenged her to arrest all the 10 lakh senders.
Singh was once a TMC MLA but he defected to the BJP before Lok Sabha election 2019. Singh said that the BJP decided to send postcards to Mamata after police lathi-charged some workers of the party on Saturday for chanting "Jai Shri Ram" during a demonstration near a place where TMC leaders were holding a meeting.
(With Agency inputs)
