Mamata Banerjee jeered at Narendra Modi over his remark that he had been sent by god, attributing such messianic claims by the Prime Minister and his sycophantic saffron ecosystem to their haratonko (phobia of defeat).
The Trinamool Congress chairperson offered to build a temple dedicated to Modi so that his devotees could offer prayers there and advised him to stay away from electoral politics in this democracy.
The Bengal chief minister, at three campaign rallies (two in Mathurapur and one in Joynagar) on Friday afternoon, was unrelenting in her mockery of Modi over his recent remarks.
“The Prime Minister is coming and claiming ahead of the elections that he’s not biologically born… or some such thing, he said. He supposedly had no parents…. He has descended from the skies. Can you make head or tail of this? No parents, god sent him from the heavens above. Baap rey baap (Father, oh father)!” said Mamata, tongue firmly in cheek.
“There is a limit to lying…. Ishwar (the almighty) supposedly sent him, he supposedly is a messenger of god. Bhogoban (God)!” she added, to uproarious laughter from an audience of thousands.
Mamata was referring to Modi’s recent television interview, in which he purportedly said: “For as long as my mother was alive, I used to think I was born biologically. Since her demise, when I look at my experiences, I am convinced I was sent by god.”
“This strength is not from my body, it was given to me by god,” he added. “That’s why god also gave me the ability, strength, pure-heartedness, and inspiration to do this. I’m nothing but a godsent instrument.”
Mamata said when a mad dog bites a person, they get jolatonko (hydrophobia, a symptom of rabies).
“BJP harchhey boley haratonko rog hoyechhey. Harchhey, harchhey harchhey (The BJP, because it is losing, is suffering from a phobia of defeat. Losing, losing, losing)!” said the Trinamool chief to thunderous applause.
“Making no sense, in what they are saying or doing now,” she added. “If you are truly a prophet, stay in a temple.”
Mamata asked the rally at Joynagar whether a temple should be erected for Modi, to which the audience erupted with laughter.
“We should make a temple for him, should we not? We will make a temple for you, install your image in it… offer you sweets, tulsi (basil leaves), chandan (sandalwood paste), and priests,” she said.
“But please do not participate in politics anymore, especially when you say such things,” added the chief minister.
She attacked Modi and the saffron ecosystem for daring to make the claim of immaculate conception.
“Here for politics, and you claim to be an emissary of god? Messengers of god are not self-proclaimed. God creates them…,” she said.
“Claiming himself to be a son of god! Dare I ask, does god send someone to foment riots, or to spread lies, or to incarcerate people in the name of (the citizenship matrix)?” asked the chief minister. “Does god send a messiah to endorse hooliganism… or to block funds for the poor (under the MGNREGS), or to prevent rural houses from being built…? God can do no such thing!”
She also ridiculed the BJP’s Sambit Patra over his recent remarks that triggered a major controversy, that Jagannath (a form of Vishnu, the Preserver in Hinduism’s holy trinity; the supreme deity in Odia Hinduism) is a “devotee of the Prime Minister” – a statement he later retracted.
“An overlord of all gods? They have the audacity to claim Jagannath Deb, too, is his devotee. Haay Jagannath Deb, ki durdosha desheyr aaj (Alas Lord Jagannath, so extreme is the misery of this nation today)!” said the Trinamool chief.
“You (Modi) could have claimed that as the oneoccupying the prime ministerial chair, you are the uparwala (the one above) of politics. But you cannot state thatyou are the uparwala of people’s religion,” she added. “What is going on in this country must end now… once and for all.”
