Swami Vivekananda's land will never allow BJP's 'hate politics' to triumph: Abhishek Banerjee

Senior TMC leader AbhishekBanerjee Tuesday mocked the BJP for claiming to be afollower of Swami Vivekananda and said the people of the statewill never allow ''hate politics'' of the saffron camp totriumph in Bengal, where the monk was born in 1863.

The BJP has no right to celebrate Swamiji's birthday,the Trinamool Congress MP from Diamond Harbour said whileaddressing a rally in south Kolkata.

''West Bengal, which is the birthplace SwamiVivekananda, has no place for hate politics imported fromGujarat'', he said.

The 158th birth anniversary of the monk, a key figurewho had introduced Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga tothe western world and established the Ramakrishna Math and theRamakrishna Mission, is being celebrated on Tuesday.

Calling the BJP as ''fake Ram Bhakts'', he accused thesaffron party of ''following the principles of Nathuram Godsewho had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi''.

''They claim to be followers of Lord Ram. They are notfollowers of Ram, they are followers of Nathuram (Godse). Theyare followers of divisive politics,'' he said.

Abhishek Banerjee is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee'snephew.

''I don't want to politicise today's event. But, I mustsay one thing that a political party is trying to portrayitself to be a follower of Swami Vivekananda. I want to tellBJP members that Swamiji never preached hate politics andcommunalism, which is the basis of the saffron party,'' hesaid.

Accusing the BJP of insulting icons of Bengal such asNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagoreand Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Banerjee said, none of thempropagated pitting one religion against other, like the BJP.

''The people of Bengal and the land of Vivekananda,which is his birthplace, will reject the hate politicspractised by the saffron party.

''The BJP has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) according to which a person will get citizenship basedon religion. Did Swamiji ever say that citizenship should begranted after determining one's religion?'' the MP asked.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh,Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have comefrom Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31,2014 facing religious persecution there will not be treated asillegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

The Trinamool Youth Congress, led by AbhishekBanerjee, took out a five-km long rally in the city on Tuesdaycommemorating the birth anniversary of the 19th-century monk.

The TMC and its youth wing also took out rallies invarious parts of the state.

The monk's birth anniversary has triggered a war ofpolitical one-upmanship between the TMC and the BJP, with thesaffron party also lining up several programmes across thestate to celebrate the day.