Kolkata: Assailing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for using Swami Vivekananada's name to publicise her Trinamool Congress' political slogan, the CPI-M on Monday accused her of distorting the monk's teachings for furthering her political interests.
Refering to the oath administered by the chief minister during the opening of the world youth festival organised to celebrate Swami Vivekananada's 150th birth anniversary Saturday, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Surjya Kanta Mishra questioned why she made everybody swear allegiance to 'Ma, Mati Manush' (mother, land and people- the political slogan of Banerjee's Trinamool Congress).
"We saw the chief minister administering oath to even the governor (M.K. Narayanan). The oath included expression of allegiance to Ma, Mati, Manush. I don't know whether the chief minister has read books authored by Swami Vivekananda. I have. Nowhere has he talked about Ma, Mati, Manush.
"He has spoken about bhaktiyoga, karmayoga and gyanyoga. Now the chief minister is going even beyond to publicise her political slogan. By doing this, she has distorted the Swamiji's preachings and philosophy," Mishra, the leader of opposition in assembly, told media persons here.
He also took exception to Banerjee shortening the monk's name to "Vivek".
"This is humiliating for our history and tradition. How can Vivekananda be called Vivek? He was never known by that name. I ask Ramakrishna Mission monks to ponder over this."
Ramakrishana Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda.
Referring to the recent political violence at Bhangar - where CPI-M leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah was beaten up allegedly by Trinamool activists led by former legislator Arabul Islam, Mishra said despite the governor openly talking of goondaism, not a single person involved with the incident has been arrested.
Mentioning a statement of Arabul Islam pulished in the newspapers, Mishra said: "He has claimed that the state government and the party (Trinamool) were with him. The way the ministers have given him certificated, I see no reason to doubt his claim.
"On the one hand, the government is making a show of placating the governor, on the other hand it has not taken a single step following his sharp criticism of the violence.
The attack on Mollah had triggered more clashes between the CPI-M and the Trinamool, leaving many political workers injured.
Narayanan had then pulled up the government saying: "I think this is some kind of goondaism going on here". He also asked for the arrest for the guilty, and pointed at the weakness of police in tackling the clashes.
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