By PTI
KOLKATA: The TMC on Thursday said it doesn’t endorse or support Goddess Kali’s portrayal in bad taste, be it in pictures, film posters or elsewhere.
Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh also said that it was a matter of individual choice how they offer prayers to deities, two days after party MP Mahua Moitra’s remarks on Goddess Kali at a conclave sparked a controversy.
Lashing out at the BJP, which sought action against Moitra over her comments, Ghosh said that the saffron camp should stop mixing religion with politics.
“The party doesn’t endorse the comments made by Mahua Moitra. We also don’t support the portrayal of Goddess Kali in bad taste in pictures or posters. At the same time, however, it is the matter of individual choice how they would pray to their god or goddess,” Ghosh said.
The Krishnanagar MP had on Tuesday stirred up a hornet’s nest by saying that she had every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting deity, as each person had his or her unique way of offering prayers.
The TMC MP was asked for her response to the latest outrage over a film poster that showed a woman dressed as a Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette and holding a pride flag.
“There are different ways of offering puja to the goddess, as per Hindu rituals. We don’t want to comment on it; it is a matter of individual choice. The BJP should stop mixing politics with religion,” the TMC state spokesperson added.
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Moitra, faced with a barrage of criticisms over her remarks, had said on Wednesday that she, a “worshipper of the deity”, was not afraid of saffron camp “goons”.
“Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need backup forces,” she wrote.
Delhi BJP leaders on Thursday filed a complaint with the police against TMC MP Mohua Moitra and Canada-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, alleging them of “hurting” sentiments of Hindus.
The complaint received from the BJP leaders at Parliament Street police station was forwarded to the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police for further action, a senior police officer said.
The BJP leaders also demanded that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee should dismiss Moitra from the party.
“Moitra has hurt sentiments of Hindus by using derogatory language against Goddess Kali,” Delhi BJP vice president Rajan Tiwari alleged.
Moitra on Tuesday stirred a controversy with her remarks that she has every right as “an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess”, as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in his or her own way.
Manimekalai came to the centre of a huge storm over her documentary “Kaali”.
The filmmaker is facing several FIRs following outrage over the poster of Kaali showing the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag.
The way Manimeklayi has depicted goddess Kali in a poster, has hurt the Hindus, said BJP leaders Harish Khurana and Harihar Raghuvanshi who lodged the complaint on the behalf of the party.
Madhya Pradesh police on Thursday sent a legal notice to Twitter, asking it to remove access to the `objectionable’ content posted by Canada-based film-maker Leena Manimekalai regarding her documentary “Kaali”.
The access should be removed within 36 hours, police said, a day after registering two FIRs against the filmmaker for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The notice, sent by Cyber Intelligence and Cyber Crime Police, Bhopal, came days after Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court against the Indian government’s orders to take down content under the IT rules.
The notice said the content was unlawful” as per section 295-A of the IPC (hurting religious feelings), under which First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against Manimekalai in Bhopal and Ratlam on Wednesday.
Twitter should “expeditiously remove access to the aforesaid illegal material/content” within 36 hours “without vitiating the evidence in any manner,” the notice added.
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Earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said he will write to Twitter, asking it to screen tweets aimed at hurting religious sentiments.
The BJP government in the state will also write to the Centre to issue a lookout circular against Manimekalai, he added.
On Wednesday, an FIR for hurting religious feelings was also registered against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in Bhopal over her remark that she has every right to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting deity, as each person had his or her unique way of offering prayers.
Earlier this week, Twitter moved the Karnataka High Court, challenging the Indian government’s orders to take down content under the new IT rules, saying it is an abuse of power by officials.
The US-headquartered microblogging site challenged a government order issued in June 2022, terming the blocking orders “overbroad and arbitrary”.
