Mamata’s Uneasiness Over Jai Shri Ram Chants Comes To Fore In Uttar Pradesh, When Confronted By Hind Yuva Vahini Protests

TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee’s uneasy equation with Lord Shri Ram came to the fore in Uttar Pradesh, his birthplace, where there is no avoiding Rama’s political themes either. When Didi reached Varanasi to campaign for Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Bengal CM’s cavalcade was blocked by Hindu Yuva Vahini members carrying black flags and chanting Jai Shri Ram. A Vahini functionary said the protests were justified in the wake of the “genocide of Hindus in Bengal” after which Mamta had the gall arriving into Kashi. By chanting Jai Shri Ram aloud, “We want to bring to her notice that this part (read state) of Bharat was always the land where Sanatan Hindus dwell unlike Bengal, where one may insult Hindus and still get away with it. This is Uttar Pradesh.” For Akhilesh, campaigning in Ayodhya for a party candidate, the protests against his ally was quite embarrassing. Mamata, who faced protests on her way to Dashashwamedh Ghat to see the ‘Ganga Aarti’, got off the vehicle and faced the Vahini crowd. She boarded her vehicle only after police personnel took the activists away.  It may be recalled that Mamata walked out of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary celebrations in WB in January 2021 after crowds chanted Jai Shri Ram even while sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.