Kolkata: Not so long ago, West Bengal chief minister and All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) boss Mamata Banerjee was visibly uncomfortable with overt political displays around the Hindu god Ram. Bengal’s recent history is replete with examples of how she would get upset when the slogan Jai Shri Ram was uttered with political motives.

       Indeed, on 22 January, she dismissed the grand spectacle of ‘Ram Lalla’s pran pratishtha’ in Ayodhya as a political stunt, and publicly declared that the event was not worthy of her thoughts or time. “Yesterday I was asked to comment on Ram mandir...as if I have nothing else to do. BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is doing it as a gimmick before the Lok Sabha polls," she thundered.

       Even as states—those ruled by BJP as well as others such as Delhi—declared a holiday to allow people to partake in the celebration, Banerjee championed an alternative. That very day, she rolled out semi-government, semi-political sarva dharma (all-faith) rallies in Kolkata and around Bengal. The idea was as much to counter the Hindutva wave swirling around the Ram mandir inauguration as to showcase her view that Hinduism was an all-inclusive religion.

       But that was in January. Three months down the line, she has softened her stance ever so slightly. With BJP’s Suvendu Adhikary, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, needling her for not declaring holidays on Hindu festivals such as Makar Sankranti and Ram Navami while doing so for Muslim commemorations such as Shab-e-Barat, Banerjee sprang a surprise by declaring a state holiday on Ram Navami (17 April).

       Though the government’s notification clearly mentioned that the occasion for the public holiday was Ram Navami, Banerjee took pains to state that it was for the Maha Navami of the Chaitra Durga puja or Basanti Durga puja, steering clear of the fact that it happened to be the birthday of Ram.

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       TMC leader Saayoni Ghosh during an election rally. (X)

       Her party leaders, on the other hand, were vociferous in their Ram Navami celebrations. The party’s candidates fighting the Lok Sabha polls showed the most enthusiasm for the festival. Prasun Banerjee, the candidate from Howrah, took out a maha michil, a roadshow, with people clad in yellow and saffron and singing hymns in praise of Ram. He even chose to route it past the spot where a communal confrontation took place over Ram Navami last year.

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