Mamata Banerjee’s ‘jihad’ call against BJP gets Opposition up in arms

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee calling for “jihad against BJP” in a public speech on Tuesday has infuriated the opposing Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.

Banerjee said that July 21 is the day to remember the martyrs, and it would also be the day to declare jihad against the BJP. “BJP-ir biruddhe jihad ghoshnar dibosh,” she said in Bangla while addressing a convention of TMC workers in West Burdwan.

Banerjee reminded the gathering about July 21, when the party shows its political strength by organising a massive gathering at the heart of the city every year. The Trinamool Congress commemorates July 21 as a day of martyrs—13 Congress Party youth workers died in a police firing on this day in 1993 during a protest march led by Banerjee. The West Bengal Chief Minister was a part of Indian National Congress, then.

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While inviting everyone to participate in this year’s July 21 gathering, she said because the day wasn’t marked by the party for two years due to pandemic-related restrictions, she wanted massive participation this year.

BJP leaders took exception to the TMC chief’s “jihad” remark. “Mamata Banerjee, sitting CM of Bengal, has declared July 21, 2022, as the day of “Jihad” against the BJP. Notwithstanding the fact that she is calling for violence against the people of Bengal, who believe in a different political ideology,” Amit Malviya, BJP’s co-in charge for West Bengal tweeted.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said the chief minister, by using the word jihad, was inciting people of a particular community against the BJP.

“The word jihad doesn’t mean violence. One can impose jihad upon oneself. It means abstinence, or self-purification. It’s a kind of struggle. What could be interpreted of what the CM said, is that she may have meant that voters should abstain from voting for the BJP, or to struggle against the BJP,” Udayan Banyopadhyay, a political analyst told Deccan Herald.