Kolkata/Berhampore: The Trinamul Congress, Congress and Left parties have attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his political speech on the Citizenship Amendment Act to students at a religious platform like Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, on the religious occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary during his stay there.
Lashing out at Mr Modi, West Bengal power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said: “He sounded (like) speaking on behalf of a political party. I do not think he talked like a PM there. His tone was different. We feel that the CAA directly infringes Article 14 of the Constitution, which is about the equality of the people of India. Already a case has been filed in the Supreme Court comprising of 60 petitions against it.”
Congress’ Lok Sabha leader Adhir Chowdhury also criticised the PM. “It is very unfortunate that on Vivekananda’s birth anniversary the divider of the nation used the platform of Ramakrishna Mission. I think RKM Belur Math is losing its sanctity because Ramakrishna and Vivekananda are respected for their ideology.” He claimed Mr Modi’s dreams would be shattered by Vivekananda’s followers.
CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim said: “The unemployed need jobs. The students require education. Ordinary people ask for the return of black money to the country from abroad and security for women in view of rising incidents of rape. However, by implementing the CAA, Mr Modi wanted to send a message to non-Muslims staying outside the country that he is for Hindutva in India.”
He alleged: “The PM used religion and a religious platform like Ramakrishna Mission unfortuantely. The Maharaj would not support it certainly because it was Vivekananda’s birth anniversary. Be it Mr Modi or Amit Shah or Mohan Bhagwat, they have tried to mislead different communities separately.”
