Madhya Pradesh Police register an FIR against Moitra for making remarks on Goddess Kali and allegedly hurting religious sentiments
o Mahua Moitra was publicly slammed by TMC for her remarks on Goddess Kali.
o She walks into fresh trouble as Madhya Pradesh Police register an (FIR) against her for her comments.
Moitra slammed for remarks on Goddess Kali
Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra was publicly slammed by her party for her remarks about Goddess Kali. She found herself in further trouble on Wednesday when the Madhya Pradesh Police registered a first information report (FIR) against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Moitra had allegedly said at a forum in Kolkata that “To me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting Goddess”. This came in response to being asked about her views on the controversial poster of a documentary that showed a woman dressed as the goddess and smoking.
She said if one goes to Tarapith temple in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, you can see sadhus smoking, claiming that that’s the version of Kali people worship. Being a Kali worshipper, Moitra said that she has the freedom to imagine the Kali Goddess her way.
She said that in Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, during puja, worshippers offer alcohol to their god, it being sacred to them in their religious proceedings but if the same is to be done in Uttar Pradesh, to go and offer whisky to a god as prasad, then it will be considered blasphemous in their context.
Trinamool Congress party strongly condemned her comments, saying that her views on Goddess Kali were made in a personal capacity and were not endorsed by the party in any way. The party also stated that moving forward, Moitra will be cautioned from making such comments on religious figures.
BJP attacks Moitra amidst its own religious remarks controversy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently embroiled in controversy over Nupur Sharma’s offensive remarks on Prophet Muhammad, was quick to attack Moitra over her remarks on Goddess Kali. The West Bengal women’s unit of the BJP approached the Kolkata Police for Moitra’s arrest.
Mahua Moitra continued to stand by her statements, later clarifying on Twitter that she had never supported a film poster or mentioned smoking and that her words were being distorted by trolls.
She launched into the BJP, tweeting that lying will NOT make them better Hindus and that she had never backed any film or poster or mentioned the word smoking. She suggests that they visit the Maa Kali Temple in Tarapith to see what food & drink is offered as bhog.
On Wednesday, she doubled down further, tweeting that she is a Kali worshipper and isn’t afraid of their ignorance, goons or police. And most certainly not BJP supporting trolls. Stating that truth doesn’t need forces to hold up.
Moitra was supported by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, who said he was taken aback by the attacks being made on her. He urged people to lighten up and leave religion alone to individuals to practise privately.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi differed in his opinion, however. Saying that people must be careful when they play with the emotions of others which may be reflected in symbols such as culture and faith.
On Moitra’s remarks, he said that he won’t comment on other parties, but that he believes a balance must be maintained in symbols and the essence of faith. That Indian culture cannot be trivialised by anyone, anywhere.
On being compared to the Nupur Sharma controversy, Mahua Moitra stated that it is unlike Nupur Sharma who made hateful remarks about Prophet Muhammad while she was celebrating Goddess Kali.
Pointing to Kali’s varied manner of worship, she challenged the BJP to prove her wrong over whether or not that’s how Goddess Kali is worshipped in some places. She accused BJP of trying to impose a monolithic, patriarchal, Brahminical, North Indian version of her religion.
