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Gitas and “Mamataye Namoh” at Trinamool’s Saffron Event 

Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.

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When Anubrata Mandal, the Trinamool Congress’ chief of Birbhum district, West Bengal, turned up at the party’s Brahmin Sammelan dressed in saffron, he had surprised everyone. For a party that has constantly demonised everything related to saffron, the congregation of over 2,000 priests made the Dak Bungalow Ground in Bolpur look a giant orange candy.

On Monday, 8 January, priests from across Birbhum and Burdwan were ferried in buses to Bolpur by the Trinamool cadre. ID cards with Banerjee and Mandal’s photos and a sign that read ‘pratinidhi’ (representative) were distributed to all the priests in their paras and villages. Entry was provided to only those who carried these cards.

The message, however, was clear from the word go. Whether good publicity or bad, Banerjee wanted Hindus to know that an event had been organised for them.

The idea was to make the event seem like a conference, one of the party boys who was hovering around the stage before the event told The Quint. “The purohits should feel like they are selected people who’ve been invited to put forth their long-neglected demands,” he said.
Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.
Each priest was given a copy of the Gita and a namaboli (a religious shawl).
(Photo: Ishadrita Lahiri/The Quint)

The priests were presented with a namaboli (a religious shawl) and a copy of the Gita as they entered, and then treated to a sumptuous shudh-shakahari meal once the event was over.

If the odd whispers are to be believed, some priests were even offered Rs 4,000 by party cadres if they turned up for the event.

That, of course, was a false promise. But no one really raised the issue with Banerjee’s blue-eyed boy Mandal, or Keshto Da, as he’s popularly called in Birbhum. The rally was a show of strength for Mandal.

However, the very organisation of such a sammelan and how it panned out, revealed larger insecurities within the Trinamool.

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“Om Mamataye Namoh”: But CM Gives The Event A Miss

Interestingly, the Chief Minister gave the event a miss and was seen in North Bengal for a government-organised festival. The sammelan was led by Mandal and two of her ministers – a strategic move knowing that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is not targetting the Hindus of Birbhum, but the district's 37 percent Muslim population. Therefore, Banerjee did not want to be seen in what was an out-and-out "Hindu" event, lest her hijab-wearing, namaz-reciting image – used for years by the party to win Muslim votes – gets tarnished.

Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.
Gates such as this one – with Mamata and Anubrata’s pictures – were put up across Bolpur.
(Photo: Ishadrita Lahiri/The Quint)

It was clear that the event had her blessings, though. Posters across Bolpur had her face on them and the ‘priest leaders’ on the podium did not fail to eulogise her in their speeches.

Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.
‘Priest leaders’ were invited on stage to give speeches. Each one of them recited from the scriptures, manipulating some parts of the verse to include “Mamata.”
(Photo: Ishadrita Lahiri/The Quint)
The priests recited from religious scriptures, all of them also manipulated the text to include “Mamata” in the verses. So, chants of “Om Mamtaye Namoh”, “Om Bhur Mamtaye Swaha” and so on were heard at the sammelan – met with giggles from the crowd, and a poker-face from all the leaders.
However, not one of the priests The Quint talked to them spoke about a monthly honorarium for the Brahmin purohits, a unanimous demand made by every priest. On the other hand, the West Bengal government has provisioned an honorarium for ulemas in the state – a scheme running since the Banerjee government first came to power in 2011.
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"A Secular Function"

Mandal was the last to take the stage.

Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.
Attacking Mukul Roy and the BJP, Anubrata Mondal took to the stage wearing saffron.
(Photo: Ishadrita Lahiri/The Quint)
“We don’t need to learn Hindutva from anyone. If we do, it’ll be from you,” Mandal said. “We know your children don’t want to become priests, but we want them to join the profession, because in birth or in death, we always need priests,” he added, to rapturous applause. 

Interestingly, when asked if it was right for a political party to be organising such an event, he told reporters that this was a “secular” function. “Being a purohit is a profession and we have invited professionals to share their grievances,” he said.

When The Quint asked him about the honorarium for Brahmins, as the state government provides for ulemas, he deflected the question, saying "it is for the government to decide."

The entire event, in fact, tried hard to capture Hindu sentiments by making evocative, cathartic statements. However, what exactly the government will do to satiate the demands of the priests was never brought up.

Local journalists, working in the grassroot areas of the district, observe that certain Muslim-populated areas like Mayureshwar and Parui have seen a rise in BJP presence. "The young generation Muslims are moving towards the BJP as they think that the Trinamool has become too dynastic and top-heavy. Mukul Roy's defection has also motivated many TMC cadres to move to the BJP," said Bholanath Chakraborty, a local journalist.

The aim of the TMC, therefore, was also to give out a very clear message to the BJP through the sammelan. If you hit at our vote bank, we will unabashedly and vociferously hit yours.
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Anubrata Is Boss, Mukul The Devil

An implicit agenda of the sammelan was Mandal stamping his authority on Birbhum, especially since he is now being pitted against Mukul Roy, Banerjee’s former Man Friday, known for his grassroots mobilisation strategies. Roy recently defected to the BJP.

During the course of his speech, Mandal referred to Roy as “jalhad”or “the devil.”

“Ask him how much money he’s made off the TMC? Ask him why he keeps calling me? He is a big zero. A faltu person,” he told The Quint in his usual devil-may-care attitude.

Keshto Da has always been controversy’s favourite child. He is known to publicly ask his cadre to “break the legs” of Opposition party members and resort to other such violent means. In the 2016 state elections, the Election Commission even initiated legal action against him for saying that polling agents of Opposition parties would “vanish” before the election.

However, he’s always been Banerjee’s blue-eyed boy given that he is a key figure in the 16 legislative seats of the Birbhum district. The Chief Minister went to the extent of calling him a “special child” after the 2016 episode.

Over 2,000 priests came for the TMC’s Brahmin Sammelan. The Quint travelled to Birbhum to get a sense of the event.
Over 2,000 priests attended the Brahmin Sammelan. A clear indication of Anubrata Mandal’s sway over people of Birbhum.
(Photo: Ishadrita Lahiri/The Quint)
Mandal’s sway over the people of Birbhum was evident at the sammelan too. Many purohits were seen making their way to him after the event to tell him about their problems. To most, he responded with a nod, but for some, he was seen reaching for his wallet and distributing crisp Rs 500 currency notes. It wasn’t a political gesture, but just something Mandal is known to do for the needy, something that makes him a go-to person for the downtrodden in the district.

The upcoming panchayat polls are his latest battle and Mandal made sure everyone knows that he has his game-face on.

"I'm going to organise a similar event for Muslims, Adivasis and my booth-level cadre," he told reporters, indicating that the BJP cannot take his fiefdom away from him. "We will win all 162 seats in the panchayat," he told The Quint.

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The sammelan has exposed the Trinamool's worst insecurities. The BJP's sustained attack on their blatantly pro-Muslim policies has forced them to now try and woo Hindu voters. But in doing so, they have still not been able to shed their "appeaser" tag.

Mamata’s absence from the event shows how they are trying to tread the thin line between being ‘’pro-Hindu” and grossly “Hindutvawadi.” Clearly, the TMC is now having a hard time balancing between their two vote banks. Why else would a party that once saw Hindutva as a four-letter word, be embracing it at a public event?

Repeated attempts at defaming Mukul Roy even when no one really brought him up, shows that in spite of their portrayed non-chalance, internally, the party considers him to be a threat. And finally, the sammelan was Mandal’s way of asserting that no matter what the reports say, he remains unchallenged by the BJP – an assertion, given the results of the party’s last electoral outing in the district, should not have to be made repeatedly.

When will this newly-formed cycle of communal politics in Bengal end? Well, with the BJP now organising its first minority meeting in the state of 11 January, it doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  Mukul Roy   Trinamool Congress   Muslims 

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