TMC-BJP lock horns over Swami Vivekananda legacy ahead of assembly polls

The Trinamool Congress and the BJPTuesday indulged in verbal duel in a bid to appropriate thelegacy of Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary ahead ofthe assembly polls.

The opposition BJP said it wants to take the state on thepath of development following the principles of the 19th-century monk, while the TMC asserted that the land of SwamiVivekananda will never accept the ''hate politics imported fromGujarat''.

Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary was celebrated onTuesday across West Bengal with the main attraction being hishouse at Simla Street here, where leaders of various politicalparties paid tributes to the Hindu spiritual leader andreformer.

Leaders of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and theTrinamool Congress made a beeline at the residence of Swamijisince morning and paid floral tributes to the monk, whosebirth anniversary is celebrated as the National Youth Day.

With the state polls in Bengal only months away, theoccasion triggered a war of political one-upmanship betweenthe TMC and the BJP.

The saffron party lined up several programmes across thestate to prove themselves as the true followers of the monk.

Trinamool Congress youth wing president and MP AbhishekBanerjee, who participated in a five km long march tocommemorate the day, mocked at the BJP for propagatingthemselves as followers of Swami Vivekananda and said he neverpreached ''divisive politics''.

''A political party is trying to propagate themselves asthe followers of Swami Vivekananda. I want to tell them thatSwamiji never preached hate politics and communalism,practiced by the BJP'', Abhishek said while addressing a rallyafter a march in South Kolkata.

Abhishek, who is also an MP and nephew of West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said the land of SwamiVivekananda has no place for the hate politics imported fromGujarat.

''The people of Bengal and the land of Vivekananda, whichis his birthplace, will reject the hate politics practiced bythe saffron party.

''They (BJP) have passed a new citizenship law CAA, wherea person will get citizenship on the basis of religion. DidSwamiji ever said that citizenship should be granted afterdetermining the religion?'' he asked.

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.

Senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said the BJPis using Swami Vivekananda and other icons for their politicalgains.

''They are trying to use the icons of Bengal for theirvested interests. If they are so concerned about SwamiVivekananda, in the last six years what has the uniongovernment done to commemorate his birth anniversary and hisideals. The answer is nothing'', he said.

Paying tributes to Swamiji, West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee tweeted ''His message of peace and universalbrotherhood is of utmost relevance today and inspires all ofus to strive hard in safeguarding these ideals in our belovednation''.

The TMC and its youth wing took out rallies in variousparts of the state to observe the birth anniversary of SwamiVivekananda.

Meanwhile, the BJP, trying to shed the tag of ''outsider''branded by the TMC, left no stone unturned to mark the 158thbirth anniversary of the monk with pomp and grandeur.

Apart from taking out rallies in various parts of thestate, the BJP leadership took out a rally from Shyambazar tothe monk's ancestral residence at Simla Street in NorthKolkata.

''Swami Vivekananda ideals are more relevant in today'sworld. We would take the state on the path of developmentfollowing the principles of Swamiji'', West Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh said after leading the rally.

There is a need for change in Bengal and his ideals areour guiding light, he said.

Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said the party has alwaysbeen an ardent follower of ideals of Swami Vivekananda.

BJP national vice president Mukul Roy and other state-level leaders like former state president Rahul Sinha,Jaiprakash Majumdar also participated in the rally.

Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel,Uttar Pradesh DeputyChief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP national generalsecretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and senior leader SuvenduAdhikari garlanded the statue of Swami Vivekananda at hisnorth Kolkata residence.

The election to the 294-member West Bengal assembly isscheduled to be held in April-May.