Goddess Kali row: Bengal Guv accuses Trinamool of encouraging appeasement politics

Kolkata, July 12 (IANS) The recent controversial comments about Goddess Kali made by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra is a reflection of Trinamool's appeasement politics, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Tuesday.

"Although certain comments were made about Goddess Kali recently, there was no attempt to restrain those comments. This is because appeasement politics is going on in West Bengal, where people from a particular community are patronised and provided with all benefits and financial assistance. This appeasement politics is against the democratic nature of the country and ultimately will ruin the society and the state," Dhankhar said.

Just before the Governor held a press briefing on this count, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, met Dhankhar along with a group of seers and complained about the recent comments about Goddess Kali.

The Governor said that whenever anyone in the family or anyone in the society goes in the wrong direction, it is the duty of others in the family or the society to take action and bring that person back on track.

"What is necessary is to accept what is wrong as wrong. But nothing on those lines is happening in West Bengal right now," the Governor said.

Dhankhar also launched a scathing attack on the state government over the law and order situation in West Bengal.

"There is no rule of law in the state. Illegal syndicates and mafias are ruling everywhere. There is acute fear in the minds of the people. What is urgently necessary is freedom from that fear," the Governor said.

Reacting to Dhankhar's comments, Trinamool spokesman Kunal Ghosh said that if the Governor forgets his Constitutional responsibility and behaves like the spokesman of a particular political party, it is his choice. "But I would like to assure him that the Trinamool Congress is quite respectful about the sentiment of the people associated with Goddess Kali," he said.

Last week, Moitra had triggered a row while addressing a conclave where she said that she had every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess, as each person had his or her unique way of worshipping deities.

Following her comments, the BJP filed FIRs against Moitra at a number of police stations in different states, including West Bengal. Even the Trinamool Congress censured her for her comment.