Mamata Banerjee, TMC leaders change Twitter DP to Jay Hind, Jay Bangla amid 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan row

KOLKATA: Amid an ongoing war of words with the BJP over its alleged political use of religious slogan 'Jai Sri Ram', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several leaders of her Trinamool Congress party on Sunday changed their Twitter display picture (DP) to 'Jay Hind, Jay Bangla.'

The TMC chief and her party leaders had earlier changed their Facebook and Twitter display picture with a photo of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar to protest the desecration of the bust of the noted reformer and key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. 

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/6Imtt1w36a — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 2, 2019

Then TMC's official profile on Twitter and Facebook was also changed with a picture of Vidyasagar. 

Banerjee today hit out at the BJP and accused it of using the 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan for political gains.

The firebrand TMC chief also accused the BJP of ''mixing politics with religion'' by using the 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan.

''BJP is mixing religion with politics by using 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan,'' the West Bengal Chief Minister said on Sunday.

Mamata took to Facebook and wrote that "some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media - the so-called BJP media and the so-called fake video, fake news, misinformation and disinformation to create confusion and to suppress truth and reality."

We wish to inform the people that some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media - My FB post >> https://t.co/R9EYTCyU5e pic.twitter.com/YQMV7HMfHY — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 2, 2019

"From Ram Mohan Roy to Vidyasagar to other great social reformers, Bengal has been a seat of harmony, progress and forward thinking. But now, the misconceived strategy of BJP is targeting Bengal in a very negative manner," she wrote in her Facebook post.

The TMC leader went on to add that she has "no problem" with any particular slogan of political parties.

"Every political party has its own slogan. My party has Jai Hind, Vande Mataram. The Left has Inquilab Zindabad. Others have different slogans. We respect each other... Jai Sia Ram, Jai Ram Ji Ki, Ram Naam Satya hai etc have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments," Banerjee added.

"But BJP is using religious slogan Jai Sri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics. Deliberate attempts are being made to propagate the ideology of hatred through vandalism and violence, which must be opposed,'' the West Bengal CM said.

Banerjee went to suggest that it is "high time that proper action is taken to restrain political workers from indulging in activities of creating unrest, chaos, violence and disruption of normal life by taking recourse to misplaced ideologies in the so-called name of religion to create a divide among the people."

All this happened amid reports that the BJP was planning to send 10 lakh postcards with `Jai Sri Ram` written on them to the West Bengal Chief Minister.

This was announced by newly-elected BJP MP Arjun Singh on Sunday who also challenged the West Bengal Chief Minister to arrest all the 10 lakh senders.  

(With Agency Inputs)