Political blame game intensifies following Vidyasagar statue desecration

Both TMC and BJP put forward a series of pictures and video footages to pin the blame on one another

A day after the desecration of the statue of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar during a roadshow of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Amit Shah in Kolkata, political blame game intensified between the BJP and the opposition on Wednesday.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) as well as the Congress blamed the BJP, which in turn alleged that Trinamool workers broke the statue of the iconic reformer and a key figure in Indian renaissance. 

The BJP is hopeful that Tuesday’s events in Kolkata would influence voter behaviour, if not in West Bengal, at least in rest of the seats going to the polls in the last phase on Sunday. The Trinamool invoked Bengali pride by pointing out that BJP leaders had little understanding of state’s rich cultural heritage and non-Bengali speakers from other states were brought in to indulge in violence and vandalise the statue. 

Vidyasagar, a Sanskrit scholar, is a celebrated 19th century figure who gave shape to the Bengali alphabet and type, and compelled the British to bring in the Widow Remarriage Act besides fighting against Hindu orthodoxy for women's education. 

The BJP leadership upped the ante on the issue in New Delhi, where its leaders moved the Election Commission on Tuesday night. Shah held a press conference in the national capital on Wednesday morning and later in the evening led a party delegation to meet Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. 

On May 19, the last and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections, 59 seats go to the polls, most of which are in the Hindi heartland, including 13 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and 3 in Jharkhand. Nine of West Bengal’s seats also poll in the last phase. 

(above) BJP President Amit Shah at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday shows pictures citing violence by Trinamool workers during his roadshow | Photo: PTI

At the press conference, Shah suggested the last phase was only a formality. “I am fully confident that the BJP after the sixth phase of the elections has crossed the majority figure. It will cross 300 after the seventh phase,” he said. 

Shah accused the EC of having been a mute “mute spectator” to the TMC’s violence and said he was unlikely to have escaped unhurt without CRPF protection. He said the TMC “goons” vandalised the bust of Vidyasagar to gain “sympathy”. 

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said, “We forthrightly accuse the BJP of destroying the statue of Vidyasagar. Under Modi-Shah, mobocracy is being actively encouraged and abetted by the ruling party. We have seen irreversible damage to the cultural identities of the state it has been doing.” At a rally in Agar­para in Bengal, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said the incident was a “planned criminal conspiracy” and “Bhoj­puri hooliganism”. She supported her claim by showing video footage of the incident. 

She supported her claim by showing video footage of the incident, where saffron-colour draped people are seen vandalising. Another leaked WhatsApp video, allegedly shows a Hindi-speaking local leader of the BJP asking group members not only to attend Shah’s rally or face consequences, but be prepared to take on the TMC and the police during the rally. 

Trinamool spokesperson Derek O’Brien also exhibited the footage of the incident at a press conference in Kolkata. 

The PM, who addressed public meetings in Bengal, said, “The whole nation is talking about what happened in Kolkata yesterday. It shows her (Mamata’s) nervousness. She had said she will avenge ‘inch-by-inch’ and she did it in a matter of 24 hours. She planned the attack on Shah.” 

On Tuesday, Shah’s convoy, was allegedly attacked by Trinamool-backed goons during a roadshow in the metropolis while alleged BJP backed ‘outsider goons from Bihar-Jharkhand’ attacked college students chanting “Amit Shah go back”. 

Following this incident, an FIR against Shah has been lodged in Kolkata. 

On Monday, during an election rally, Banerjee had alleged that RSS activists in paramilitary uniforms are sent to Bengal to influence polling that she’ll avenge it once the general elections are over. 

Several protest marches were led by the TMC and the Left Front in different parts of the state to oppose the alleged vandalism while the BJP staged a dharna against violence. Students, teachers and the staff of Vidyasagar College staged a demonstration and a section of the city’s intelligentsia have condemned the incident.