Modi & BJP high command upset over Jai Shri Ram chant against Mamata

New Delhi: In a sign of changing equations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a livid BJP high command has sought details from its Bengal leaders about the behaviour of  BJP workers who shouted “Jai Shri Ram” at her at a Howrah Station function on December 30.

Modi had flagged off Bengal’s first Vande Bharat Express and other projects through video conferencing at the function after he had attended his mother's funeral in Ahmedabad.

As the PM conveyed his displeasure to the party bigwigs, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh asked the Bengal BJP leaders to probe the conduct of these workers.

They are said to be loyalists of Suvendhu Adhikari, leader of the opposition in the Bengal Assembly and a bitter rival of Mamata, who had remained defiant despite the perceived changing equations between Delhi and her.

Sloganeering at Howrah station - BJP's Jai Sri Ram vs TMC's Jai Bangla pic.twitter.com/cY1jb11O2R

— NewsDrum (@thenewsdrum) December 31, 2022

What has upset the central BJP was that Modi's gesture to go ahead with his Bengal schedule despite his personal tragedy got eclipsed by the behaviour of BJP workers. It marred otherwise a sombre function.

A visibly annoyed Mamata refused to come on stage (from where the Vande Bharat express to New Jalpaiguri was flagged off) because she was greeted with the cries of “Jai Shri Ram” by BJP workers from among the audience. Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar repeatedly tried to pacify her and simultaneously asked the crowd including the BJP supporters, who were on the opposite side of the platform, to stop sloganeering.

She, however, stayed through the programme. She delivered a gracious address in the virtual presence of Modi.

Apparently, Modi was very upset with the behaviour of many among the 1,600-odd BJP workers who were present at the railway ministry event at Howrah station.

Soon after the function, Adhikari was unapologetic about the incident. He said ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was just an ‘alibi’ as the Chief Minister didn’t want to share the dais with him. Once a strongman of the Trinamool Congress, Adhikari had defeated Mamata in Nandigram in the 2021 assembly elections.

“She (Mamata Banerjee) refuses to respect LoP. Actually, she can never forget that I defeated her in Nandigram by 1,956 votes. I will make her the former chief minister of the state. She is staging a drama. In the Victoria Memorial incident last year she didn’t speak because of the same chant but today she spoke as she wanted to take credit for the newly inaugurated projects,” said Adhikari.

The last occasion when Modi and Mamata were together was in Kolkata's Victoria Memorial Hall on January 23 last year. At that time too, she took offence to the "Jai Shri Ram" slogan being raised by BJP workers at a central government event marking Subhas Chandra Bose’s 124th birth anniversary. She refused to address that function.

This time, however, the PM and other top BJP leaders want Adhikari to rein in his supporters who had created a row at a railway function, which was not a BJP event.

Mamata's changing equations with Modi annoy Bengal BJP leaders?

Since her meeting with Modi in Delhi last August, Mamata had been sending mixed signals to the BJP. She had been trying to keep the role of Modi out of her criticism of the BJP, especially for the raids by Central agencies against her family and other Trinamool Congress leaders.

Mamata had met Union home minister Amit Shah on the sidelines of the Eastern Zonal Council meeting during his visit to Kolkata on December 17. She had also attended the Delhi meeting chaired by Modi earlier this month to discuss India’s G20 presidency.

Her recent meetings with Modi and Shah, however, caused discomfort for Bengal BJP leaders who were worried about the fate of the probes by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Trinamool Congress leaders. The Left and Congress described Mamata's warming up to Modi and Shah as a “part of match-fixing”  because of the central agencies' probes.

Just before the Gujarat polls, Mamata refused to attack the Prime Minister over the bridge collapse at Morbi, saying she does not want to make the death of more than 130 people a political issue. “I will not make any comment on Prime Minister Modi. Gujarat is his state. It is a tragic incident. I offer my condolences to the families of the bereaved. This is not a political issue.”

On September 19, when the West Bengal assembly passed a resolution accusing the CBI and ED of indulging in excesses, Mamata declared that she does not believe that Modi is instructing federal agencies to use power beyond their limits against TMC leaders. “The central government and a section of BJP leaders are behind this. Bengal’s BJP leaders want the agencies to serve their political agenda. The Prime Minister is possibly not aware of this.”

Significantly, Mamata managed to persuade the Centre to resume funding for projects in the state, which was stopped after allegations that her government was misusing funds and renaming Central schemes for political mileage to benefit her party leaders.  The Bengal BJP had launched movements in the districts on this issue alleging fake beneficiaries as part of the run-up to the panchayat polls, which are to be held in early 2023.

On November 24, the Union rural development ministry sanctioned ₹13,000 crores for building 11,34,000 homes under the PM Awas Yojna project in Bengal.  The Union finance ministry also sent a letter the same day stating that ₹814 crores had been cleared towards compensation for Goods and Services Tax (GST).

What happened at the Howrah event?

Modi flagged off the seventh Vande Bharat Express, hours after performing the last rites of his mother Heeraben Modi in Gandhinagar. Modi was to visit Kolkata to inaugurate a number of developmental projects. But he had to virtually attend the events in the wake of his mother's demise.

Addressing the event through video, Modi apologised for not being physically present. “Today, I was supposed to be among you, but I could not come due to some personal reasons, for which I apologise to you and the people of West Bengal,” he said.

In her six-minute address, Mamata thanked the PM profusely for the initiative and expressed her condolences for his bereavement. Offering her condolences to Modi, Mamata said: “Today is a sad day. I pray to God to give you strength and bless you so that you can love your mother with your action and your activities. I convey my gratitude to you… you were supposed to come to West Bengal today, but because of the sad demise of your mother, you could not do so, but have reached us through your virtual programme. I request that the programme be cut short. Please take some rest, I don’t know how to condole your mother’s death, your mother is our mother. I remember my mother also.”

Modi's mother Hiraben passed away at a hospital in Ahmedabad at the age of 99. A bulletin from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, where she was admitted on December 28 after her health deteriorated, shared the news of her demise on December 30

Modi also inaugurated the Joka-Taratala stretch of the Purple Line of the Kolkata Metro through video conferencing.

He also dedicated four railway projects to the nation. They included Boinchi - Shaktigarh 3rd Line, developed for ₹405 crores; Dankuni - Chandanpur 4th Line Project, developed for ₹565 crores; Nimtita - New Farakka Double Line, developed for ₹254 crores; and Ambari Falakata - New Maynaguri - Gumanihat Doubling Project, developed at a cost of more than ₹1080 crore.