On Friday (March 5), the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party announced the list of 291 candidates (in a State Assembly of 294 seats) for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls. While TMC had dropped several sitting Ministers from seeking re-election, it has nominated controversial leader Madan Mitra to contest from Kamarhati constituency in North 24 Parganas.
By giving election ticket to TMC loyalist Madan Mitra, the Mamata Banerjee-run-party has attempted to further polarise the vote bank. It must be mentioned that Mitra had been peddling anti-Hindu narratives under the garb of criticising the BJP. In a recent hysterical rant, the TMC leader said, “Jai Shri Ram, we have to ban this slogan. I am going to the High Court. This is Bharatvarsha. Why are you saying Jai Shri Ram? You are excluding Sita. Can there be Ramayana without Sita? It means you have been trying to implement the NRC from the beginning.”
He made the contentious comments in January this year. Besides, Madan Mitra mocked Hindu sentiments by claiming that Lord Ram would not eat unless beef was cooked by Goddess Sita herself. “Janaki jokhon janta parlo barita parshuram aschen tokhon janaki bollan ata janakraja tara tari akta choto goru ranna kore dao karon porshuram goru chara kichu khaba na boddo ragi (When Sita got to know about Ram’s return to his house, she had asked for beef to be cooked. This is because Ram is temperamental and will not accept anything as food other than beef),” he had alleged.
Ahead of the elections, the TMC is looking forward to consolidating the Muslim vote bank further by mocking Hindu religious sentiments. While Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim had vowed to increase the honorariums paid to Islamic clerics (Imam Bhata), the party had realised that its traditional Muslim vote bank might get split between AIMIM and the Left-ISF-Congress Mahagatbandhan. Madan Mitra’s candidature is a testimony to the fact that Trinamool Congress is not only indifferent towards Hindus but could go to any extent to stop their vote bank from trifurcation.
Madan Mitra is also a popular meme on the internet due to his penchant for bizarre comments. He had once declared himself as the ‘Crush of Bengal’.
