Kolkata, July 1: The visibly purturbed and anguished West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankad has asked the state Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee to withdraw her 'clarion call' to her party workers to launch a 'Jihad against the BJP' which she considers as a Hindutva Party.
Mamta Banerjee addressing a rally of her TMC workers at Asansol ealier this week asked them to launch a "jihad" against the 'Hindutva' party BJP from July 21, the day her party observes as "Martyrs' Day" every year.
Such provocative statement coming from leaders of her stature who is holding a constitutional office needs to be condemned in strongest terms. As expected the BJP sensing the open threat to them, approached the Governor for redressal.
Governor Dhankad, who is known to have crossed swords with the Chief Minister on many occasions in the past, asked Mamta to withdraw her 'unconstitutional statement' immediately describing it as 'authoritarian and undemocratic'.
The Governor's directions to the Chief Minister clearly stated that her statement was most 'unfortunate and indicated constitutional anarchy'. How can a person holding the statutory position of a chief minsiter of a state could make such a anti-constitutional and anti-democracy statement calling for 'Jihad' against a rival political party.
Dhankad further noted with anguish that such a call by a chief minister of a state was a deathknell of democracy and rule of law. This also smacks of authoritarianism and is undemocratic, he noted adding that he had indicated on number of occasions that the governance in the state was far away from the Constitution and law. He made these observation while interacting with a TMC delegation that called on him on Tuesday.
Taking strong exception to Mamta Banerjee's 'Jihad' call, the Governor urged to her to forthwith withdraw this most unconstitutional declaration of 'Jihad' against the BJP on JUly 21, 2022.
The Chief Minister's hate speech revelaed her 'Jihadi" mentality, quipped Suvendu Adhikari, leader of oppostition in the state assembly who inflicted a humiliating defeat on Mamta from her Nandigram constituency. The BJP sought immediate dismissl for her call for violence against the opposition party.
The call for 'Jihad' against BJP exposed the pro-Muslim votebank of Mamta Banerjee, Adhikari said adding that this is part of her vote bank politics. She has always encouraged the Islamists and terror otfits to set up their bases in West Bengal. And now she has come up with this 'Jihad' call, he said.
The call for jihad against the BJP also brought to the fore Mamata Banerjee’s seminal hatred for the BJP. She did not hide her hatred for the BJP whenever she got an opportunity. BJP is her rival political party. She had contested and won the last assembly elections although marred with uncontrolled violence unleashed againt the BJP workers in the state.
However, the other TMC leaders tried to downplay her call saying that 'Jihad' means protest and Mamta Banerjee had only given a call for struggle in the BJP, said Jay Prakash Majumdar, TMC Spokesman who defected to the party from BJP.
However, such attempts to whitewash this "Jihadi" mindset had not found many takers who felt that merely condemning her hate speech and asking her to withdraw it was not enough.
Jihad is an Islamic call for eliminating the non-believers or 'kafirs'. The country is stunned recently with the killing of Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur recently for merely supporting the views of Nupur Sharma on the Prophet. This is an act of 'Jihad'. Does Mamta Banerjee wants her pary workers to emulate this kind of 'Jihad' against the BJP? Is she not aware of the violent connotations and imploications of 'Jihad' that is used by the Islamic radiclas around the world as a pretext to attack and physically eliminate their opponents?
Though Muslims scholars and 'secularists' argue that 'Jihad' actually means a spiritual struggle within oneself to pourify one's soul by rinsing sins and become a better human being, the Islamists and terrorists use the same term for justifying violence and wanton killings of non-Muslims as their 'religious duty'.
And Mamta Banerjee must be aware of these implications of 'Jihad' and how the redicals use this against the non-Muslims. Still, she has given this call to her party workers. According to her BJP is a Hindutva Party and this anti-Muslims. Therefore the 'Jihad' call against the party is justified. What does she intended to achieve? A civil war?
And more surprising is the 'criminal silence' of the so called liberals, communists, left-leaning intellectuals and secularists and also the disguised multi-communalist and their friends in the media on her call. Do they also subscribe to Mamta's 'Jihadi' mentality in the name of protecting 'democracy'?
Merely condemning or deploring such calls will not suffice. Mamta Banerjee must be punished for ussuing such statement inciting for violence against the rival political party. The Indian democracy does not have any room for such violence and such leaders openly advocating this attitude.