Kolkata: When Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had declared a state holiday on Ram Navami – April 17 – many had wondered whether this was an indication that the party was keen to appeal to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s voter base in the state. However, celebrations organised by her party candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls has left little to imagination in that regard.
From north Bengal to down south, election rallies and Ram Navami celebrations became one with the TMC matching the BJP in religious fervour.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Security forces were present in many areas across the state. In Rampurhat of Birbhum district, BJP supporters arrived at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad-organised Ram Navami rally with open swords and guns. The TMC-led Rampurhat municipal council offered water and snacks at the same rally. Videos show that the rally had a participant dancing with a pistol in his hand. Swords were openly brandished.
Police at the scene appeared to have done little to stop them. Later, Rampurhat Sub-Divisional Police in-charge Govinda Shikdar said, “It was a toy pistol.”
Birbhum’s TMC candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, Satabdi Ray, said, “Ram belongs to no single person. Everyone has the right to celebrate Ram Navami. There is no reason why this should be cause for party politics.”
TMC leaders have been celebrating Ram Navami for the past five years. This time, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans – associated largely with BJP and Hindutva parties – were heard in rallies of both parties.
Among those heard chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans were TMC’s sitting MPs, Dev Adhikari and Prasun Banerjee. TMC’s Jadavpur candidate Saayoni Ghosh was also seen in a saffron turban, participating in a Ram Navami rally.
TMC’s Barrackpore candidate Partha Bhowmik, at a Ram Navami rally, declared a “challenge” to BJP over whose celebration saw a bigger footfall. In Coochbehar – which will go to polls tomorrow – TMC candidate Jagadish Basunia organised a puja. At another Ram Navami rally in Siliguri, BJP’s Darjeeling candidate Raju Bista and TMC zilla president Papiya Ghosh walked together.
A leader of TMC’s tea garden workers’ wing, Mithu Mohant, who participated in a Ram Navami rally at Jalpaiguri said that he thinks of himself as as “sanatani” follower of Hinduism. “So I celebrate Ram Navami,” he said.
Rallies were also seen in areas surrounding Muslim-majority neighbourhoods in Kolkata.
At various places, roads and markets were closed. A rally by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Anjani Putra Sena in Howrah saw police shut down shops along a 1.5 kilometre stretch. Last year saw horrific riots near the Shibpur locality of Howrah. Although the Calcutta high court had said that no more than 200 people can participate in the rally this time, over a thousand – including TMC leaders and supporters – did. Governor C.V. Ananda Bose was among those who arrived at the scene.
The extent of celebrations has surprised many. “The extent to which TMC and BJP are competing with each other smacks of one-upmanship. This cannot be made into a celebration like Durga Puja overnight,” said Manoj Sanyal, who runs a store on a Siliguri footpath. Siliguri is to go to polls tomorrow.
CPI(M) veteran Sujaan Chakraborty said that the TMC had transformed itself to a party of “Rambhakts” – worshippers of Ram – because of the elections.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, however, told The Wire that the party believes – “unlike BJP” – that Ram belongs to one and all.
Researcher Supriyo Tagore told The Wire that arms at a rally to worship Ram is a surprising concept. “It is scary that such scenes are seen in Bengal too,” he said.
Translated from the Bengali original by Soumashree Sarkar.
