Mamata Banerjee had on Tuesday, recited passages of “Chandi-path” or chants for Goddess Durga and declared, “You cannot teach me Hinduism. I have shown you that I know the mantras to Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kali and Durga. It is not how you do it, memorizing some lines before the election and dropping them at meetings.”
In this regard, Mamata Banerjee’s renditions of Hindu chants were mocked by her one-time aide turned BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari, who slammed the Bengal Chief Minister’s “I am a Hindu girl” comment.
Mamata was speaking at Nandigram, where she faces Suvendu Adhikari as her BJP rival in the election starting March 27.
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Mr Adhikari, at a public meeting, came prepared with ammo. He played a recording of the chants and then replayed Mamata Banerjee’s version. “Her Chandi-path was all mangled. Her mantras were wrong.”
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Mr Adhikari rubbed it in by referring to Yogi Adityanath, the saffron-robed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister who is among the BJP’s star campaigners in Bengal.
“Yogi can chant correct mantras, he should be brought here once to correct Mamata Banerjee’s chants. I want Yogi-ji to come here and do that,” he said.
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Adhikari who had recently thrown “outsider” comment on Mamata, continued his attack on his former boss, accusing her of using “Hindu dharma” for politics. It is worthwhile to note that the Insider vs Outsider debate was launched by TMC to attack BJP, which is trying to make inroads into the state-polity.
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Mamata Banerjee last week announced that she would give up her Bhowanipore seat and contest from Nandigram, the stronghold of Mr Adhikari, in the Bengal election starting March 27.
After her workers’ rally at Nandigram town, she visited several temples and offered prayers.
