Kolkata: Various Hindu Right wing groups affiliated to the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) organised grand rallies on the occasion of Ram Navami in West Bengal on Wednesday.
Holding aloft saffron flags and whizzing through the city and districts on motorbikes, members of these outfits kicked-off a series of “armed” rallies during the day.
Even school children and women were seen brandishing swords and bows and arrows in the colourful rallies. They rent the air with slogans of “Jai Siya Ram”. In some areas, chants of “Har Har Mahadev” were also heard.
Surprisingly, processions were taken out even at the Muslim-majority areas such as Kidderpore where they also shouted slogans like ‘Hindu Raj Banayenge’ (will build Hindu rule).
In Kolkata, the rallies were taken out in places like Bhowanipore and Garia-Jadavpur.
In a bid to match the Ram Navami pitch by the Sangh Parivar, including its political arm Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling Trinamool Congress has turned to Hanuman, with the party’s irrepressible Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal leading the charge.
Trinamool leaders, people’s representatives and workers participated in worshiping Hanuman during the day’s Ram Navami celebrations.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted the people on the occasion. “Greetings on the occasion of Ram Navami,” Banerjee tweeted.
Banerjee, who earlier cautioned against inciting violence using religion as a plank on the occasion, after an administrative meeting, lashed out at the RSS and the BJP and said that the rallies was aimed at dividing the state on the basis of religions. She also said that BJP uses Ram Navami for communal polarization. She warned that politics of polarization would not be tolerated.
“Ram Navami is not the occasion for inciting riots but is a festival of humanity and love,” she further added.
Talking on this Dilip Ghosh, State BJP President said that Mamata Banerjee is afraid of the growing strength of BJP in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, Syed Md Nurur Rahman Barkati, Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Masjid at a press conference said that RSS is a threat to India and should be banned in the country. He compared RSS with Taliban. He further said that he will request Mamata Banerjee to ban RSS in Bengal.