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NDTV
4 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Turning Fear Into Faith: Truth Behind Bhopal's 'Hindu Exodus' Claim
Bhopal: On the morning of July 24, the narrow, crowded alleys of Bhopal's Banganga area suddenly turned into a theatre of chants and colour. Saffron flags fluttered, loudspeakers echoed with cries of "Jai Shri Ram," and amidst the spiritual fervour, a disturbing claim began doing the rounds: that Hindu families were fleeing the area, allegedly harassed by their Muslim neighbours. Some Hindu outfits claimed an exodus was underway and that Hindus were being forced to abandon their homes, but as an NDTV team reached the ground the next day, the truth was far more layered and far removed from the noise. What remained in the streets was a tense silence. The loudspeakers were gone, the saffron flags removed, but the unease lingered. The air carried a weight not of religious strife, but of fear and confusion. What emerged was not a story of communal hatred, but of a personal dispute that had been cleverly repackaged as a religious flashpoint. Radha Yadav, a resident, had put up a poster on her house that read: "Due to harassment by Muslims, this house is for sale." That poster had since disappeared, but the fear in her voice hadn't. She alleged that on July 21, a group of boys vandalised vehicles parked near her house. When she tried to record a video, she says she was hit on the hand, and her son was also assaulted. Her nightly ordeal, she claims, included a crowd of boys gathering outside, abusing her family, issuing threats, and even staging bizarre late-night celebrations like cutting cakes. She said complaints to the police and the Chief Minister's helpline went unanswered and it was then, in frustration and fear, that she posted the sign announcing her intent to sell the house. Her sister, Shanti Kanaujia, who lives next door, shared similar allegations. She claimed that when she protested against the harassment, she was physically attacked. The police, she says, didn't help, and instead, she was blamed, and the sister of one of the accused filed a counter-complaint. "We were the ones assaulted, and they made it look like we were the attackers," she said. Residents in the rest of the locality told a different story. They called it a personal feud, not a communal issue. Deepak Singh, a local, said, "This is not about religion. There have always been flags during Moharram, and now there are saffron flags too and we've coexisted peacefully." Others echoed this sentiment. Arman Khan said that if you parked a car or even passed by Radha's home, she would abuse and threaten to call the police. people who had grown up in the neighbourhood said in one voice: "This is not our fight. Someone is creating this atmosphere." "This locality has never had a communal atmosphere," said Saif Ahmed. "We celebrate festivals together. The Moharram procession starts from a Hindu's house, and the Durga idol is installed near a Muslim's home." Rahul Solanki, a lifelong resident, added, "I've seen Moharram and Holi celebrated here together. There was never any tension; this has been manufactured." Residents like Sheela Raikwar believe that certain organisations are exploiting a personal feud for communal mileage. "They come, shout slogans for 10 minutes, stick posters, create news, and leave," she said. "This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. It's a private matter, being politicised." The police have now registered an FIR against two individuals based on Shanti's complaint. But there have been no arrests so far. Importantly, the police confirmed that no official complaint of migration due to religious harassment had been received. The so-called protest, they said, had no prior permission and seemed to be a spontaneous political stunt. "We received information from the Banganga area about a scuffle and exchange of abuses between two communities. An FIR has been registered and legal action is underway. However, no arrests have been made so far. No official complaint was submitted to the police station regarding any alleged migration due to harassment by Muslims. The protest that took place did not have prior permission; we were only informed about it," senior police officer Ankita Khatarkar said.
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
All Trinamool MPs may speak only Bengali in Parliament: Abhishek Banerjee
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Kolkata: Igniting the Bengali 'Asmita', like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , Trinamool National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on Monday that if needed all Trinamool MPs will speak in Bengali in the Parliament and will never bow down to anyone. The junior Banerjee even pointed out how BJP is compelled to chant 'Joy Maa Kali' and 'Joy Maa Durga' instead of 'Jai Shri Ram,'.'If needed, we will speak in Bengali in Parliament. We are Bengalis, and we will never bow down,' Abhishek Banerjee said, while addressing the Martyr's Day rally today. 'After 2026, we will make you say ' Joy Bangla '. We will uproot BJP and Lotus flower. Today, you are compelled to chant 'Joy Maa Kali, Joy Maa Durga,' Abhishek said.'The very Durga Puja committees were targeted with Income tax notices. Now see, you are forced to abandon your 'Jai Shri Ram,' and utter 'Joy Maa Kali' and 'Joy Maa Durga,' Abhishek was hinting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Joy Maa Kali' and 'Joy Maa Durga', ahead of his public rally on Friday in calling BJP 'anti-Bengali,' the Trinamool National General Secretary slammed the saffron party and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his comments about the Bengali-speaking population in India, in a recent X Handle post.'What action was taken against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for saying that speaking in Bengali means a person is Bangladeshi? What has the BJP leadership done about it? What action was taken against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for saying that speaking in Bengali means one is Bangladeshi? What has the BJP leadership done about it?' Abhishek raised questions.'Why are you (BJP) people so angry that we are talking in Bengali, is it because you were defeated in Bengal…?' Abhishek said. "Assam Foreign Tribunal has been used against Bengal. We have been fighting on the issue and brought people back from detention camps, fighting the matter in court.'Abhishek Banerjee dared that Trinamool will reduce the BJP to 26 seats in 2026 assembly polls."Our workers are our strength. BJP repeatedly lost to us because of our workers,' Banerjee said, adding,'Despite having access to immense financial resources, agencies like the ED, CBI, and Income Tax, the Election Commission, and even Pegasus software, the BJP cannot defeat the Trnamool. This is because they lack even a single worker comparable to Trinamool,' he said.
India Today
21-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
In Modi's ‘Kali-Durga' stage-cry, a new BJP vocabulary for Bengal?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on July 18, walked onto the stage in West Bengal's Durgapur with the ease of a seasoned performer. Yet, what followed stunned many: no chants of Jai Shri Ram from the crowd or BJP leaders. Instead, from the stage thundered two phrases steeped in Bengal's own religious vocabulary: 'Jai Ma Kali' and 'Jai Ma Durga'.This was no oversight. It was a calculated message, part of the BJP's ongoing attempt to rebrand itself according to Bengal's political and sociocultural ethos. For a party that has invested heavily in Ram-centric Hindutva across the Hindi belt, this pivot was Durgapur rally was a cocktail of cultural cues. The dcor mimicked a Durga Puja pandal rather than a political dais, with motifs more in tune with Bengal's autumnal festivities than, say, northern India's Ram Navami celebrations. The BJP MLA from Durgapur Purba, Lakshman Chandra Ghorui, had even sent out printed invites that conspicuously mentioned only Kali and Durga, leaving out Ram wasn't a one-off deviation. Over the past year, the BJP has been soft-launching a more 'Bengali' version of itself. The shift is a response to the party's consistent failure—despite aggressive campaigns—to crack the Bengali vote in numbers big enough to unseat the Trinamool Congress (TMC). To understand the change, one must first understand the terrain. The culturally Hindu Bengali is politically resistant to Hindi belt-style majoritarianism. The state's long legacy of left-wing politics, bhadralok secularism and intellectual cosmopolitanism makes Ayodhya-style saffron appeals fall flat among wide sections of BJP's early strategy had been simple: replicate its Uttar Pradesh model. It ratcheted up Ram Navami processions, highlighted alleged Muslim appeasement by the Mamata Banerjee government and portrayed itself as the defender of Sanatan Dharma. But this approach ran into a wall—Bengalis do not see Lord Ram as their primary 2021, the Ram card had clearly begun to fail. The BJP's muscular Hindutva, including Jai Shri Ram sloganeering in rallies—Mamata herself being subjected to some—and episodes of confrontation with Muslims—galvanised its base but simultaneously consolidated the minorities behind the TMC. The BJP won 77 of the total 294 seats in assembly polls that year, an impressive surge from the previous election, but still way short of its own Durgapur moment, then, was not impulsive—it was surgical. The decision to foreground Goddess Durga and Goddess Kali at this stage of the BJP's campaign cycle is about localising Hindutva. In doing so, Modi may have sought to break Mamata's narrative of the BJP as a 'Hindi heartland' party imposing Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan on in particular, is politically potent. She is not just a religious figure in Bengal but also a cultural archetype—fierce, maternal, revolutionary. From Rani Rashmoni to Ramakrishna Paramahansa to even Rabindranath Tagore's writings, Kali holds a mystic grip on Bengal's imagination. Durga represents order, civilisation and the annual moment of communal watchers feel the Modi camp appears to be repositioning Durga as the moral centre of Bengali Hindutva, rather than Ram as the ultimate warrior. In doing so, it hopes to de-communalise the pitch just enough to woo softer Hindu voters who are uncomfortable with North-style Ram Janmabhoomi BJP high command clearly believes it is worth the risk. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls gave the BJP 12 out of 42 seats in Bengal, a sharp drop from 18 in 2019. The decline spooked the leadership, especially given the aggressive Muslim mobilisation and Mamata's success in projecting the BJP as a party of 'bohiragato' (outsiders).As the 2026 assembly elections loom large, Modi's shift suggests a full-throated bid to reclaim cultural space on Bengal's terms. That includes talking about Lord Jagannath in Digha, chanting mantras in Bangla and, yes, invoking Ma Durga instead of Lord the BJP's 2021 campaign was high on noise and provocation, the new messaging is more coded and less confrontational. That's not to say the communal dog-whistles are gone—but these are layered beneath a more 'cultured' Hindutva, cloaked in Tagorean gravitas and Bengali the Durgapur rally, Modi praised Bengal's contribution to India's spiritual and nationalist traditions. He invoked Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Vande Mataram, highlighted Swami Vivekananda and talked about how Kali and Durga represented the soul of Bharat. Unspoken, but politically loud, was Ram not finding a mention. It was almost as if the BJP had decided to bench its biggest star—for duality—between North Indian assertive Hindutva and Bengali cultural Hindutva—is now being played out in real time. On the ground, BJP workers still organise Ram Navami rallies, often clashing with police or rival groups. In the tribal and border districts, party leaders continue to pitch the Muslim migrant threat narrative. But at the top tier, a new messaging is evolving. The saffron flag remains but the winds that make it flutter now carry a distinctly Bengali out at Modi, Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC's national general secretary, mocked that he will make the BJP say 'Joi Bangla' after the assembly polls next year. 'First they insult Bengal and Bengalis. Now they come to Bengal, exclude Ram and chant Kali and Durga. I promise that after 2026, I will make them say 'Joi Bangla',' Abhishek said at his party's flagship Martyrs' Day event in Kolkata on July 21. 'Joi Bangla' has been the TMC's slogan since the 2021 is clear that the BJP's challenge is greater than it may imagine. In Bengal, religion is not a binary. Durga Puja organisers often include Muslim craftsmen. Muharram and Durga idol immersion processions, if falling on the same day, can happen simultaneously and without BJP's narrative that the TMC is anti-Hindu hasn't fully taken root. So now, instead of fighting Mamata on Ram, the BJP wants to 'out-Durga' her. A risky but creative to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch
News18
19-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Jai Shri Ram Vs Jai Ma Kali: BJP Looks To Connect With Bengali 'Asmita', TMC Mocks 'Imitation'
TMC plans to set a narrative that BJP, which once aggressively projected the slogan 'Jai Shri Ram', has been compelled to adopt chants like 'Jai Ma Kali' under its influence The day Samik Bhattacharya was picked and felicitated as the Bengal president of BJP, the presence of Ma Kali's image on stage had sparked wide discussions. Now, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Durgapur, the display of Matri Shakti (divine feminine power) was seen in full force. Starting his speech in Durgapur, PM Modi raised the slogans 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai," followed by 'Jai Ma Durga, Jai Ma Kali". Not only did he raise these chants during his address, but this time, the BJP's official invitation also carried the words 'Jai Ma Durga" and 'Jai Ma Kali". Sensing an opportunity, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is planning to take up the issue strongly. Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, 'The prime minister says he wants development. But what does development mean? It means Mamata Banerjee and her government—Maa, Mati, Manush. It was there, it is there, and it will remain. But what has changed? PM Modi. Earlier it was Jai Shri Ram, now it has become Jai Ma Kali. Has PM Modi changed so much? They used to say Mamata Banerjee does not celebrate Durga Puja. Now, 11 years after becoming PM, Bengal has changed him." He added, 'Today, one good thing we observed was that 'Jai Shri Ram' was not uttered even once." TMC insiders reveal that the party plans to set a narrative suggesting that BJP, which once aggressively projected the slogan 'Jai Shri Ram", has now been compelled to adopt chants like 'Jai Ma Kali" and 'Jai Ma Durga" under TMC's influence. The party intends to position itself as understanding Bengali culture deeply, while portraying the BJP as an outsider merely imitating them. However, this theory is countered by another section of political analysts who argue that BJP's strategy is to connect with Bengali asmita (pride)—similar to their approach in Odisha—although the models in both states differ significantly. Over the past decade, the BJP has consistently tried to align with Bengali cultural identity. This time, their focus on the Bengali Renaissance and cultural heritage is aimed at appealing to the bhadra lok (educated middle class). Chants like 'Jai Ma Kali" and 'Jai Ma Durga" resonate deeply with the masses of Bengal, experts say, and this is part of BJP's strategy to establish a cultural connect. However, they clarify that this does not imply 'Jai Shri Ram" is losing relevance. After all, Bengal's biggest festival, Durga Puja, has its mythological roots in Akalabodhana [worship of goddess Durga] by Lord Ram, establishing a strong narrative link. Experts assert that BJP's Bengali asmita agenda is clear—the party will continue to weave cultural, religious, and regional pride into its political messaging in every possible way. view comments First Published: July 19, 2025, 11:03 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
19-07-2025
- Indian Express
Right-wing outfit forcibly shuts KFC outlet in Ghaziabad over sale of meat during Sawan
A group of men allegedly affiliated with the Hindu Raksha Dal forcibly shut down a KFC outlet in Ghaziabad's Vasundhara on Thursday, police said. They allegedly arrived at the food outlet and protested against the sale of meat during the holy month of Sawan and the ongoing Kanwar Yatra. A purported video of the incident, which surfaced online on Friday, showed a group of men raising slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Jai Shri Ram', as they protested in front of the outlet's entrance, before forcibly pulling down the shutters. Police said the outlet does not fall on the officially demarcated Kanwar Yatra route and that there is no government order banning the sale of non-vegetarian food in the area. 'Eight to 10 boys gathered and staged a minor protest. The outlet does not fall on the Kanwar route. An FIR has been registered and the group is being identified,' Indirapuram SHO Ravendra Gautam said. 'An incident came to our notice on July 17, where some individuals created a ruckus at a food outlet and tried to shut it down. Police immediately reached the spot, dispersed the group, and ensured normal operations resumed at the restaurant,' said ACP Abhishek Srivastav. A Nazeer outlet in the area has also been allegedly shut down by the same group.
