New Delhi: As the anger and uproar escalates over Canadian filmmaker’s upcoming documentary ‘Kaali’, Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Mahua Moitra has landed up in a row over her derogatory reference to goddess Kaali.
The TMC MP is under fire for her statement made during a leading TV channel conclave where she said, “Goddess Kaali is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting deity.”
Moitra said: “If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, they give whisky to their god. If you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous. For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess.”
She said this when asked about the outrageous poster of upcoming documentary by Leena Manimekalai, where the goddess could be seen smoking a cigarette. A flag of LGBT community can also be seen in the background.
At the conclave, Moitra said: “If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they give whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous. For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess.
The TMC leader’s offending remarks has led to police complaints and demands for her arrest while her own party seems to have disowned her remarks. BJP leader Jiten Chatterjee has filed an FIR against for hurting religious sentiments of the community while Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar demanded her arrest for despicable remarks on the goddess.
“TMC can’t dissociate itself from Mohua’s disgraceful remarks and the party must expel or suspend her for few days,” ANI quoted Sukanta as saying.
Amid the growing clamour against Mohua Moitra for linking ‘liquor with the goddess Kaali’, the party has distanced itself from her remark.
Reports suggest that her irresponsible statement has left her own party standing against her as many don’t endorse her views on the deity that Bengal worships.
At the receiving end from all sides, the TMC leader has found support from Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Taking to Twitter, Tharoor said that he was no stranger to malicious manufactured controversy and hence he was not taken aback by the attack on Moitra.
1/2 I am no stranger to malicious manufactured controversy, but am still taken aback by the attack on @MahuaMoitra for saying what every Hindu knows, that our forms of worship vary widely across the country. What devotees offer as bhog says more about them than about the goddess.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 6, 2022
The controversy over documentary ‘Kaali’ first broke out when Leena Manimekalai, the Madurai-born filmmaker based in Canada tweeted a poster on July 3.
