I am 'secular': Mamata says while laying foundation stone of Durga Temple
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday rebranded herself to be a secular politician and not an appeaser of Muslims as her detractors often allege her to be. Banerjee was speaking during the foundation stone laying ceremony of a Durga Temple named Durga Angan, a “cultural complex” that would come up at New Town in the northeastern fringes of Kolkata.
In what was being viewed as her third such attempt to cancel out the “Muslim appeaser” tag the first two being the construction of the Jagannath Temple at beach town of Digha on Bay of Bengal and Mahakal Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in Siliguri, the Chief Minister said “there are some people who wrongly accuse me of appeasement which is not true,” insisting “when I go to a Gurudwara they would not utter a word but when I go to the attend a prayer of Eid they would cry hoarse calling me an appeaser this is injustice, I am a secular person which can be seenfrom my consistent approach towards all religions.”
Though she would not name any single politician, she was apparently meaning the leaders of the Opposition BJP and also to some extent the Left. This, even as she said, “it is easy to ignite trouble among communities but it is difficult to stitch them together in a united bond.”
Curiously, Banerjee’s statement also comes in the wake of a remark made by suspended Trinamool Congress MP Humayun Kabir, who recently launched a new outfit and laid the foundation stone of a Barbi Mosque in his constituency at Bharatpur in Murshidabad district.
When asked questions about constructing a mosque, he in a circuitous reference to the Chief Minister, said, “When people are constructing Jagannath Temple, Mahakal Temple and Durga Temple on Government land and with Government funds, no question is raised but when I am getting constructed a Barbri mosque on a private land and with private money, then eyebrows are being raised.”
Meanwhile, the BJP slammed the Chief Minister for her bid to construct Durga Angan, saying she was tainting the image of Mother Goddess by her act.
Pointing out how Rs 10 crore had already been spent with nothing to show for it, BJP leader Amit Malviya said, “A new site has now been hurriedly chosen. This land was originally earmarked for industrial units. Since no industry ever came up, the land has been conveniently grabbed. We are told there has been no official land-use conversion or change in the master plan.”
He alleged that the original site of the temple was hurriedly shifted even after spending Rs 4 crore there because a few families belonging to the minority community objected to the setting up of the temple there. This was also a mark of appeasement, the BJP leader said.
