Coming down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Trinamul Congress demanded unconditional apology from Sukanta Majumdar, state BJP president for his derogatory remarks on Swami Vivekananda. Criticizing Swamiji’s remarks on the Gita that one would be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of Gita, Mr Majumdar had said on 24 December that “Swamiji was an illiterate communist.”

The state BJP had organized a session where its supporters chanted hymns from the Gita. After coming to Kolkata from the West in 1897, Swami made this remark as he saw that those who took holy dip in the morning, studied Gita had spent their days in sheer laziness. Gita inspires people to take up unselfish work to serve others.

This statement of Swamiji’s statement had inspired the youth who took part in India’s freedom movement. Trinamul Youth Congress today organized a protest rally which started from Shyambazar Five Point Crossing and ended near Hedua in north Kolkata. Hundreds of Trinamul Youth Congress supporters took part in the rally while the senior leaders including Dr Panja were seen kicking football as a symbol of unselfish work and service to others. The protest rallies were taken out across the state and up to the block level.

The TMYC leader Saayoni Ghosh, who was one of the leaders of the protest march also played football and garlanded the statue of Swamiji. Dr Shashi Panja said Mr Mazumdar had not tendered his apology though 48 hours had lapsed after he made the comment.

She regretted that Union Home minister Amit Shah and J P Nadda, BJP national president who were in town did not comment on the matter and did not tender apology. Minister Bratya Basu wrote on X: “The silence from @ BJP4India camp over @DrSukantaBJP’s derogatory remarks is deafening. Today, Trinamul Youth Congress carried out protest marches across Bengal asking @AmitShah&@ JPNadda if they condone their party’s continuous insult to our icons. #BJP insults Vivekananda.” Trinamul’s social media and IT cell president Debangshu Bhattacharya wrote on X that Amit Shah’s meeting with the state BJP IT cell was a reaction to the heat felt by the saffron party in Bengal.

Even #BJPInsultsVivekananda was trending on top of the topics. “The formation of the social media & IT cell of the Trinamul and the way we have been doing our work has made the BJP react and Amit Shah hold meetings with the saffron party’s social media cell. BJP had thought they could have it easy in Bengal but could not. They now fear our cell. We are trending on top in India on social media, which has meant that the people of India are also with Trinamul Congress on the issue. Our hashtag on X is trending on No 1,” said Debangshu.