BJP worshipper of Ravana, not Ram: Mamata

As the RSS and the VHP upped the ante for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP is "worshipper of (demon king) Ravana" and not Lord Ram.

The Trinamool Congress supremo also said her party does not try to garner votes in the name of god.

"They (the BJP) perform puja of Ravana and not Ram, they try to spread differences among people," Banerjee said at a public rally here.

She accused the saffron party of trying to divide people in the name of Lord Ram. "They talk of Ram, we pray before Goddess Durga; Lord Ram also performed Durga Puja."

The CM said her party follows the tenets of 'Sarva Dharma' -- accommodating all religions and not differentiating people on the basis of faith.

 

"We don't sell the name of god to earn votes," she said.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat Sunday said in Nagpur the time for patience was over and a law should be brought to facilitate the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh if the matter was not a priority for the apex court.

Thousands of devotees had thronged the temple town of Ayodhya on Sunday to attend VHP's marathon 'Dharam Sabha' for discussing construction of the temple there, with a senior religious leader asserting the dates for the same would be announced early next year.

Ramji Das of Nirmohi Akhara said the date for construction of the Ram Temple will be declared in the 2019 'Kumbh', to be held in Prayagraj.

Banerjee also accused the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre of financial mismanagement, and claimed that its 'Jan Dhan' scheme will soon turn out to be a "big scam".

She said that before the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the BJP had promised to bring back black money from foreign shores and give those away to the poor, "but nothing has happened".

"Now they (BJP) are trying to use black money to spread canards and divide people," Banerjee alleged.