Behind Mamata’s RSS ‘praise’, balancing act to temper ‘appeasement’ image, graft heat on TMC | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna, CM Banerjee said, “RSS is not that bad. I don’t believe it is so bad. Even now there are good people in RSS, who don’t support BJP. One day they will break their silence.”
Saturday, Sep 03, 2022
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HomePolitical PulseBehind Mamata’s RSS ‘praise’, balancing act to temper ‘appeasement’ image, graft heat on TMC
Behind Mamata’s RSS ‘praise’, balancing act to temper ‘appeasement’ image, graft heat on TMC
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna, CM Banerjee said, “RSS is not that bad. I don’t believe it is so bad. Even now there are good people in RSS, who don’t support BJP. One day they will break their silence.”
Written by Atri Mitra
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Kolkata | Updated: September 3, 2022 7:10:04 pm
The Opposition, including the Left parties, the Congress and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, have hit out at Banerjee, calling her move “politically expedient and opportunistic”. (Express photo by Partha Paul)The row kicked up by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee’s “praise” for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has continued to rage in political circles, with the Opposition parties as well as sections within the TMC attributing Banerjee’s perceived bid to warm up to the RSS, the BJP’s ideological fountainhead, to various factors.
The Opposition, including the Left parties, the Congress and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, have hit out at Banerjee, calling her move “politically expedient and opportunistic”.
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna, the state government secretariat, earlier this week, CM Banerjee said, “RSS is not that bad. I don’t believe it is so bad. Even now there are good people in RSS, who don’t support BJP. One day they will break their silence.”
Her critics promptly pointed out that it was not the first time that Banerjee has “praised” the RSS, saying that she had done so at a rally of the TMC Chhatra Parishad, the party’s students’ wing, in 2018 too. It was also said that when she had been part of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre, she used to be close to top BJP leaders Vajpayee and LK Advani as well as a section of the RSS leadership. At a conference in 2003, she had praised the RSS as an organisation of “patriots”.
Following the resurgence of the BJP in Bengal as the principal Opposition party with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah focusing on the party’s expansion in the state, Banerjee has been grappling with the saffron challenge, emerging as a staunch opponent of the BJP and PM Modi. She faced a fierce challenge from the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state, even though she trounced the saffron party comprehensively in the 2021 Assembly elections, taking over as the CM for the third consecutive term.
Rating: 5