Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remembered Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple as a day that would reinforce the Indian legacy which underscored the idea of Unity and Diversity and vowed to uphold the ideology of unity till her last breath. The State BJP on the other hand demanded August 5 to be declared as a national holiday.
This, even as the poll-bound State presented a mixed picture of both celebrations and conflict with Trinamool Congress and BJP leaders offering Puja to Lord Rama — in some places and there works exchanging fisticuffs in other areas. Tweeting an oft bandied slogan of communal harmony insisting “Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaai Aapas mein hain Bhai Bhai!” and “Mera Bharat Mahaan, Mahaan Hamara Hindustan,” (In is a great country where, Hindu, Muslim Sikhs and Christians like brothers,” Banerjee wrote that she would continue to preserve this heritage till her last breath. “Our country has always upheld the age-old legacy of unity in diversity, and we must preserve this to our last breath!” she wrote inspiring the people of the country to jettison hatred for mutual love and harmony.
While the saffron leaders also celebrated the day by offering Pujas keeping indoors considering the lockdown protocols as the Government had declared Wednesday as a lockdown day to break the corona chain, State BJP president Dilip Ghosh made a demand for the day to be declared as a national holiday.
“This day which signifies the culmination of a 500-year-struggle is no less important than the Independence Day and so we will request the central government to declare August 5 as national holiday,” Ghosh said adding “Providence will consign to the realms of insignificance those who are opposing the ground-breaking ceremony by invoking state machinery.
He was criticizing the State Government for declaring lockdown on Wednesday. “This was nothing less than a political lockdown. While you (the Government) changed the dates for other religious groups they refused to do so for this Hindu festival. The people saw this and they will remember this. Those in power (read TMC) will have to pay for this.”
Incidentally Banerjee’s tweet and Ghosh’s trumpeting came in tandem with both TMC and BJP men competing with each other at various places in celebrating the day by offering Puja to Lord Rama. TMC leaders were seen offering pujas at Khidderpore in Kolkata, Adra in Purulia, Siuri in Birbhum district and Nandigram in East Midnapore — where the party men took out a long procession with an idol of Lord Rama, sources said.
