BJP Not Custodian of Hindu Deities, says TMC MP Mahua Moitra

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, hit out at Bharathiya Janata Party(BJP) by asserting that the saffron party is not the custodian of Hindu deities. She further added that BJP shouldn't teach Bengalis how to worship the goddess. The TMC leader has been receiving criticism from the BJP over her recent controversial comments on Goddess Kali.

She noted that BJP can't impose its views, based on ways of worshipping deities in North India, on people of other parts of India who have different rituals that are in vogue for the last 2,000 years. Mahua Moitra courted controversy on 5th July at a conclave organised by a media company by stating that she has every right as an individual to imagine the Kali diety as a "meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess, as every person has his or her unique way of offering prayers", when asked to comment on the row over a film poster of Kali holding a cigarette.

The Trinamool Congress has, however, distanced itself from the party MP's remarks on Goddess Kali, saying it "in no way supports the comments of Moitra" and is also likely to caution her from making such statements in the future. The West Bengal BJP has further sought the arrest of the Krishnanagar MP and TMC leader for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with her contentious remarks.

On Thursday night, while speaking to a Bengali news channel, the TMC leader said that she acted as a mature politician by commenting on the issue as BJP's attempt to impose Hindutva agenda and thrusting its monolithic views on other ethnic groups, adding that it should be resisted and addressed once and for all for the sake of the country. "Neither Lord Ram nor Lord Hanuman solely belongs to the BJP. Has the party taken the lease of Hindu dharma?" she added.

Moitra recalling how TMC defeated the BJP in the West Bengal assembly elections 2021,  stated, "It is a party of outsiders that tried to impose its Hindutva politics but was snubbed by the electorate. Bharathiya Janata Party should not teach us how to worship Maa Kali. Being a Kali bhakt, I know how to worship Kali. We had been worshipping the goddess in the same way for the past 2,000 years."

Moitra, commenting on the cases filed against her in different states over her contentious remarks, that she challenged the respective BJP governments of states, where FIRs have been registered to provide an affidavit writing to the court detailing offerings made to Goddess Kali.