New Delhi: Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for thrashing Bharatiya Janata Party workers and supporters for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram', BJP MP Rakesh Sinha has accused the Trinamool Congress supremo of conspiring to Islamise Bengal.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member said, "This is the first time in the history of Indian politics that some political leader has accused someone of being communal for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram'. Mamata Banerjee wants to Islamise Bengal, but the people of Bengal will not let that happen."
On Mamata Banerjee's prospects in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls, Sinha said, "Mamata is nearing the end of her political career, and the upcoming assembly polls will mark the end. She can't even imagine the massive defeat that she is going to face at the hands of the BJP."
"Her sloganeering won't help," added the BJP MP while referring to Mamata Banerjee's 'Jai Hind, Jai Bangla' slogan, that she came up with to counter the saffron party's 'Jai Shri Ram' chants.
Continuing his tirade against the TMC supremo, Sinha accused Mamata of being anti- Hindu and Islamist sympathiser, "She is anti-Hindu, she practices anti- Hindu politics. She is hell-bent on destroying the culture of Bengal. When Durga Puja celebrations collided with the Muslim festival of Muharram, she gave importance to the latter."
BJP workers and supporters have been confronting Trinamool Congress leaders by chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' since it made inroads in Bengal in the recently-concluded national election. Mamata Banerjee has been raising objections to the religious slogan and has accused the saffron party of trying to create tension in the state.
A newly-elected BJP lawmaker from Bengal had even claimed that the party would send "10 lakh postcards with 'Jai Shri Ram' written on them" to the Trinamool Congress chief.
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On Sunday, the Trinamool Congress, in a lengthy Facebook post, clarified that she does not have a problem with the slogan "Jai Shri Ram" but the way in which it is being used by BJP workers to "create unrest in West Bengal by mixing religion with politics".
