Mamata's ‘RSS ’ remark prompts sharp reactions from opposition

A political storm has arisen over Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s remarks on Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Wednesday when she said in a press conference that all in RSS were not bad and there are many who do not support BJP. A day after her praise for RSS, the AIMIM, Congress and Communist Part of India (Marxist) slammed Mamata Banerjee for what they saw as opportunism. While the RSS’ ideological party the BJP said it did not need certificates from her.

The sharpest attack came from the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who on Thursday said that "in 2003 too, she had called RSS 'patriots', (and) in turn Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh had called her Durga". He said sarcastically "hope TMC's 'Muslim faces' praise her for her honesty and consistency". Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday told PTI "This is not for the first time that she (Mamata Banerjee) has praised the RSS." Ms Banerjee had allied herself with the BJP-led NDA during late Atal Behari Vajpayee's term at Prime Minister, before distancing herself from the NDA but had a tempestuous relationship with the alliance, often attacking it over disinvestment and other issues. "Sometimes she cajoles Hindu fundamentalists and sometimes the Muslims to get electoral dividends. Mamata Banerjee has been exposed again," the Congress leader  said.  CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty claimed that her comments vindicate the Left party's stand that she is a "product" of the RSS."It is once again clear that TMC is not trustworthy in the fight against BJP," the CPI(M) leader claimed.

The TMC, however, tried to make light of  Owaisi's remark and said the party doesn't need to prove its secular credentials to him. "We don't need to prove anything to Owaisi. Mamata Banerjee has tried to say that every organisation has good and bad people. We don't need to prove our secular credentials to anyone after we defeated the BJP-RSS juggernaut in the last assembly polls," TMC MP Sougata Roy said. BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said neither the RSS nor the BJP need a certificate from Ms Banerjee. "We don't need a certificate from Mamata Banerjee on who is good and who is bad. It is for the people to decide. We are not answerable to her,"  Ghosh said.