During the last assembly elections in West Bengal, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appealed for votes in the name of Ram, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee had foiled BJP’s bet by reciting Chandi in a rally. But that was 2021 and the name of Ram was not that popular among the Bengali society then. But today even the Bengali noble people get influenced in the name of Ram.
From March 2000 to the end of 2002, I lived in Kolkata. There I was the editor of a reputed newspaper. Then I saw the Bengali society very closely. Till that time, Ram Navami was neither a public holiday nor any celebration was held there. Some North Indians definitely used to perform puja in their homes on the day of Ram Navami. But now the atmosphere has changed. Many bhajan groups sing Ram Dhun. Processions also take place during Ram Navami.
Implications of calling Ram a Muslim
Pandit Purushottam Tiwari, an expert storyteller of Ramcharit Manas in Kolkata, says that Ram Katha is now becoming increasingly popular in Bengali society. They say that people from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP are definitely behind this. But the environment that exists now cannot be dismissed. This is the reason why TMC MLA Madan Mitra is in trouble for commenting on Ram. Bengali gentry are also opposing his comment.
Madan Mitra is close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. His name also appeared among the accused in the Saradha chit fund scam. CBI had also arrested him in this scam. Then he said that there was a conspiracy by BJP behind his arrest. In his journey from politics to films, Madan Babu knew how much controversy would arise by calling Ram a Muslim.
Madan Babu is Mamta’s beloved!
Nevertheless, TMC MLA Madan Mitra described Ram as a Muslim and said that if he had been a Hindu, he would have had some surname also. Then he appeared on the public stage in the garb of a saint and said that Lord Ram was Ram Jethmalani. By insulting Lord Ram in this way, he wanted to spoil BJP’s Ram bet but he himself got trapped.
The sword of religion is sharp. If you make even the slightest mistake, you can even cut your finger. Something similar happened with Madan Mitra. Now it remains to be seen how Mamata Banerjee is able to deal with this action of her beloved MLA. There are assembly elections in West Bengal in 2026. BJP’s next target is West Bengal. He feels that victory in the West Bengal Assembly means the state with 42 MPs coming to BJP. After the success of Bihar elections, his morale has increased.
Ram is worshiped by every society in Bengal.
At such a time, the TMC MLA himself has given the BJP an opportunity to play an open game. Madan Mitra has put TMC on defensive by creating controversy in the name of Ram. It is surprising how Madan Babu, born in Bhawanipur, Kolkata, made this mistake. Bhawanipur is an area of Kolkata where the population of Gujarati and Marwari and elite communities from other provinces is very high. That’s why Ram has been worshiped here since before.
But Madan Mitra has not been able to understand the mood of changing Bengal. By the way, Kolkata or Calcutta remained the capital of British India for more than 100 years. People from every corner of the country and every religion have come to live here, people from countries of the world are also here. Since the colonial period, traders from different European countries came and settled in Calcutta. Some went with the British and some are still settled today.
Kritivas wrote Ramayana in Bengali.
This is the mood of entire Bengal. Well, Bengal belongs to Bengalis, but now the people who came from other areas also got mixed with the customs and traditions of this place. The Vaishnav movement has already been active here. Because of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 15th century. This movement started the ritual of worshiping Vaishnav deities in addition to Matrika worship in Bengal. The glory of Krishna Puja is about 500 years old in Bengal.
Nadia district has been the stronghold of Vaishnav movement. Kritivas wrote the Bengali Ramayana about 600 years ago. Therefore, it cannot be said that Bengal has remained out of the worship of Lord Ram. But during the Renaissance, Kolkata and the Kali worshiped there had such an impact that the whole of Bengal came to be known through Kali worship. After this, Swami Ram Krishna Paramhansa had a lot of influence here.
Mamta’s Muslim card through TMC
But since 2014, as BJP has progressed, Bengal has been its target. From 1977 to 2010, the CPM led Left Front ruled here. After this, Congress was never able to oust CPM from here. Even Mamata Banerjee herself could not fight the Left rule here while being in Congress. But in 1998, he left Congress and formed Trinamool Congress, since then CPM started facing challenges.
Finally, in 2011, Mamata Banerjee wrested the fort of West Bengal from the communists through TMC. Mamta played the Muslim card a lot to demolish this fort. The religious polarization never emerged here because the communists, through their rule, allowed religion to remain in the public, but did not allow it to enter politics. That is why the thinking of the Bengali gentry remained secular.
Bengal’s reaction to Gujarat riots was cold
But Mamata challenged the secularism of the Bengali gentry through the Muslim card. However, after the Gujarat incident of 2002, the secular character of Bengal started getting disturbed. I was in Kolkata at that time. At that time I had seen that communal sentiments regarding Gujarat had emerged in posh Bengali areas like Salt Lake, Lake Town, Trolley Ganj, Dolly Ganj. People here also believed that Muslims from Gujarat had stopped the train in Bharuch and burnt it. It was a strange atmosphere.
It happened for the first time that the Bengali gentleman had refused to help the riot victims of Gujarat. Then CPM’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was in power and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC was in opposition. At that time BJP was also watching the situation. Ultimately Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011.
BJP reached 77 from zero
In 2011, BJP did not get even a single seat in the assembly, but its vote percentage doubled compared to 2006, it got 4 percent votes. In 2016, his account was opened in the Assembly for the first time. BJP got three seats and the vote percentage was 10. But in 2021, BJP did wonders, Left and Congress disappeared and BJP got a record 77 seats and also 38 percent votes.
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Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned aggressively on behalf of BJP and termed the green signal from the Supreme Court for the construction of Ram Temple as a success of the party. But at that time Mamata Banerjee recited Chandi from the stage like a Bengali Panditain and got Congress and Left out for 0. TMC got 215 seats. Elections were then held on two seats.
The intention behind making fun of Ram by Mamata’s close aide and TMC MLA Madan Mitra was that Ram’s name should not be popular in Bengal, but Madan Babu is not able to see the changing environment. No one seems to agree with his statement because everyone feels that Madan Babu has created an untimely tune.
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