Why Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Jihad Against BJP’ Call Must Be Condemned And Punished

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has got the BJP up in arms once again over her call to “launch a jihad” against the saffron party.

Addressing a public gathering in Asansol earlier this week, Banerjee called upon her partymen and supporters to launch a ‘jihad’ against the BJP from July 21, a day her party observes as ‘shahid diwas’ (martyr’s day).

The BJP, expectedly, saw red and complained to state Governor Jagdeep Dhankar. The Governor wrote to Banerjee Wednesday (June 29) asking her to withdraw the “unconstitutional declaration” which he also termed as “authoritarian and undemocratic”.

The Governor’s missive to Banerjee said: “The statement is most unfortunate and indicates constitutional anarchy. It defies logic and reason as to how one under the oath of Constitution and holding the position of chief minister could make such pernicious declaration of ‘jihad’ against a political party”.

“This is the death knell of democracy and rule of law. Nothing can be more authoritarian and undemocratic. On numerous occasions, including to the TMC delegation yesterday, I have indicated that governance in the state is far distanced from the Constitution and law,” Dhankhar said, referring to the team of TMC leaders that met him Tuesday.

Urging the chief minister to withdraw the call for ‘jihad’, Dhankar wrote: “I cannot but take strongest possible exception to your statement. To observe democratic values and constitutionalism, you are urged to forthwith withdraw this most unconstitutional declaration of ‘jihad’ against the BJP on July 21, 2022”.

Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who inflicted a humiliating defeat on Mamata Banerjee in the last Assembly elections from Nandigram, said that the chief minister’s hate speech reveals her “jihadi” mentality. The BJP has demanded Banerjee’s dismissal for her call for violence against the opposition party.

Adhikari contended that Mamata Banerjee gave the call for ‘jihad’ keeping in mind her Muslim votebank. “This is part of her vote bank politics. She has encouraged Islamist and terror outfits to set up their bases in Bengal and has now given the call for jihad against the BJP,” he said.

Functionaries of Banerjee’s party, however, sought to downplay her hate speech. Trinamool spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumder, who used to belong to the BJP, blithely said that ‘jihad’ means protest and his present party chief had only called for struggle against the BJP. Majumder left the BJP after being show-caused for ‘anti-party activities’.

But that explanation does not cut any ice. And it is not enough to merely condemn Banerjee’s hate speech and ask her to withdraw it.

‘Jihad’, in the present socio-political context, is an Islamist call for killing of non-believers or kafirs and apostates. Being a senior politician, Mamata Banerjee could not have been unaware of the dangerous, vile and violent connotations of the term (jihad) which is used by Islamist terror outfits and individuals around the world as a slaughterous call for violence against kafirs and non-Ismalic or unIslamic regimes.

In academic discussions, Muslim scholars and ‘secularists’ may argue that ‘jihad’ actually means a spiritual struggle within oneself against sins and striving to be a better human being.

But Islamists use the word to mean waging war on non-believers and non-Islamic regimes. ‘Jihad’ is invoked by terror outfits and terrorists to launch violent attacks on non-believers and on non-Muslim regimes.

Mamata Banerjee would have been well aware of how terrorists call for jihad against non-Muslims, before using the term herself.

The BJP, according to her, is a Hindutva party which is anti-Muslim. And so she called for ‘jihad’ against the BJP.

The call for jihad against the BJP also reveals Mamata Banerjee’s hatred for the saffron party. Such animosity is not only grossly unhealthy, but also has no place in a democracy. The BJP may be her political rival, but she has no business to hate the party. And she has often made her hatred for the BJP, and its leaders, very clear.

Mamata Banerjee’s jihad call violated all tenets of democracy and the Indian Constitution. It was a virtual go-ahead for violence against BJP functionaries. To her Muslim supporters, it was meant to be a call for a ‘Holy War’ against the saffron party.

That is why mere condemnation of this call is not enough. Mamata Banerjee must be punished for issuing the Islamist call for violence. Indian democracy has no space for such incitement to violence, that too from the head of a party who is also the chief minister of a state.