Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was anti-women as it mentioned the name of Ram but didn’t talk about Sita.
“I am not against Ram. I respect both Ram and Sita. But why don’t you (BJP) mention Sita’s name? Are you anti-women? Without Sita, Ram won’t be there. Ram wouldn’t have taken birth had Kaushalya not been there,” Banerjee said in Kolkata.
The chief minister was addressing a gathering at the end of an interfaith harmony rally. While Banerjee led the rally, religious leaders walked behind her holding each other’s hands. TMC leaders, including the party’s National general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, formed the tail of the rally. The TMC chief also performed puja at Kalighat temple and offer prayers at a church, gurdwara and mosque during the rally.
“Kaushalya gave birth to Ram. It was Sita who went to ‘vanvas’ with Ram for 14 years and also performed the agni-pariksha. Ram worshipped Goddess Durga before he slayed Ravan,” she added.
This came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya and led the rituals of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony there.
The state BJP unit dismissed her allegation.
“When the Talaq bill was introduced the TMC had opposed it. West Bengal tops the list of states when it comes to incidents of atrocities against women. She had stopped an immersion process of Goddess Durga while allowing a procession of a minority community. She has no moral right to call the BJP anti-women,” said Rahul Sinha, BJP leader.
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The Kanyashree scheme is among several schemes that the Banerjee government has rolled out for women. The Kanyashree aims at promoting education and prevent child marriage by using cash incentives; the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme launched ahead of the 2021 assembly election aims to provide financial assistance to women from economically weaker sections of society.
Banerjee also took a dig at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi without naming him. Gandhi on Monday said he was stopped from visiting Assam’s Batadrava Than, the birthplace of saint Srimanta Sankardeva.
“I have the spirit to fight. But I am not allowed to fight. Today I showed courage and organised a rally. There are so many political parties. What did they do? Was it sufficient to visit one temple? I went to church, temple, gurudwara and mazar”
She also lashed out at the BJP saying that she won’t spare a single seat to the saffron party in the coming 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“I am ready to give as much blood as is required but I won’t spare BJP a single seat. Everyone in my family has been branded a thief because I speak against them (BJP). Who are you? When you don’t remain in power, people would get to know where did the country’s money go, how was it siphoned and who were the beneficiaries. It filled the BJP’s coffers”
