The Mamta Banerjee led Trinamool Congress has distanced itself from the comments and even condemned them.
New Delhi: Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee today said โpeople make mistakes but they can be rectifiedโ, in comments linked by many to the controversy over her party MP Mahua Moitraโs comments on Goddess Kali during an interview.
โWe make mistakes while working but they can be rectified. Some people donโt see all the good work and suddenly start shoutingโฆ Negativity affects our brain cells so letโs think positively,โ the West Bengal Chief Minister said at an event in Kolkata.
Mahua Moitra is facing multiple FIRs for her comments on Goddess Kali at a media event. She was asked to react to the massive controversy over a film poster shared by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai featuring the Goddess smoking.
Ms. Moitra had said she had every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a โmeat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddessโ as every person has the right to worship God in their own way.
โIf you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they give whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous,โ the TMC MP said.
โFor me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess. And if you go to Tarapith (a major Shakti peeth in West Bengalโs Birbhum district), you will see sadhus smoking. That is the version of Kali people worship (there). I, within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper, have the right to imagine Kali in that way; that is my freedom,โ the former investment banker said.
โI have the freedom to do it (envision a meat-eating goddess) as much as you have the freedom to worship your god as vegetarian and white-clothedโ, Ms. Moitra said.
The Mamta Banerjee lead Trinamool Congress has distanced itself from the comments and even condemned them.
โThe comments made by @MahuaMoitra at the #IndiaTodayConclaveEast2022 and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are NOT ENDORSED BY THE PARTY in ANY MANNER OR FORM. All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments,โ the partyโs tweet read.
Soon after the tweet Mahau Moitra unfollowed the partyโs official Twitter handle. However, she still follows Mamta Banerjee.
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