This led to a fiery rebuttal from the Asansol Mayor who called Babul Supriyo a monkey. He called Supriyo a monkey and said TMC knew how to capture apes like Supriyo in a cage and they had done so in the past.
On Friday, Asansol Mayor and TMC leader Jitendra Tiwary lashed out at BJP MP from Asansol and Union Minister Babul Supriyo calling him a monkey.
Tiwary’s comments came after Supriyo had mocked Tiwary after the latter decided to donate Rs 25,000 each to 22 Rath Yatras festival organising committees in Asansol. Supriyo asked if it was a refund for TMC’s cut money policy and used the hash tag #TMchhiCutMoneyBackPolicy.
This led to a fiery rebuttal from the Asansol Mayor who called Babul Supriyo a monkey. He called Supriyo a monkey, and said TMC knew how to capture apes like Supriyo in a cage in Asansol and they had done so in the past.
শুনলাম, আসানসোলের #TMchhi কর্পোরেশন (চোর-পোরেশন )রথযাত্রা কমিটিগুলিকে 25000 টাকা করে দিচ্ছে জগন্নাথদেবের নামে কাট-মানি ফেরত দেওয়ার দারুন স্স্কিম বার করেছে আসানসোলের মেয়রবাবু #TMchhiCutMoneyBackPolicy
— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) July 4, 2019
TMC's Asansol Mayor Jitendra Tiwari calls Babul Supriyo a monkey, says TMC knows how to cage monkeys pic.twitter.com/Vr65MWAKoI
— Nirmalya Dutta (@nemo_dutta23) July 5, 2019
He also reacted to an incident of violence in Asansol and claimed it was done by BJP, and they had brought people from Jharkhand. Several TMC workers along with cops were injured during the clashes.
Cut money is the term colloquially used or kickbacks to local leaders to get work done. Banerjee has launched a war on cut money and has asked leaders to return the money, which has caused some grumbling from those lower in the food chain.
1. Grant of 25,000 to 22 Rath Yatra committees
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Mayor and Trinamool Congress Leader (TMC) Jitendra Tiwari on Thursday offered a grant of Rs 25,000 each to 22 Rath Yatra festival organising committees in Asansol in West Bengal.
"This is a holy festival and when people unite and celebrate these festivals, harmony and peace prevail. So I have offered this money in order to encourage these celebrations more" Tiwari said.
TMC Leader also attacked the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) saying, "The government that we have in the centre does not want the people to celebrate festivals and live with peace. But TMC wants people to work together."
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday flagged off the Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra which will end on July 1
2. Mamata celebrates Rath Yatra at ISKCON
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In a gesture loaded with symbolism, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee Thursday attended an ISKON Rathyatra festival with the party's Muslim woman MP Nusrat Jahan, trolled by radicals for wearing emblems of Hindu matrimony, and called for "togetherness and tolerance for all faiths".
Panned by the BJP over "Muslim appeasement", Banerjee attended the elaborate ceremony with Jahan, actor-turned-TMC lawmaker from Basirhat, where they performed Hindu rituals, including pulling the chariot of Lord Jagannath.
Days after a radical Muslim cleric of Saharanpur criticised Jahan for marrying a Hindu and wearing 'sindoor', a Hindu symbol of matrimony, calling it un-Islamic, Jahan defiantly attended the ceremony with her businessman husband Nikhil Jain.
3. Nusrat accompanies Mamata
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Looking resplendent in a lime green saree, red bangles, 'mangalsutra' and vermilion, she participated in the aarti with her huband, holding coconuts in hand.
Banerjee warmly put her arm around Jahan's shoulder before the prayers.
"Togetherness and tolerance for all faiths is the real religion," Banerjee said.
Urging people to embrace peace and unity, the chief minister wished well for everyone and chanted "Jai Jagannath", "Jai Hind" and "Jai Bangla" before the chariot-pulling ceremony commenced from the Albert Road centre of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
"I am a believer of Islam and respect all religions. I don't pay heed to radicals. I know my religion and faith," declared Jahan, who has stood her ground despite radical clerics pouring scorn on her for marrying a Hindu and sporting symbols married women of her husband's community wear.
"I don't pay heed to things which are baseless. I know my religion. I have been a Muslim by birth and I am still a Muslim. It's about faith. You have to feel it inside your heart & not in your head," she said.
Bakhtiyar Raza Barelvi, a prominent Muslim cleric told a TV news channel that what the 29-year-old actor-politician was doing was "un-Islamic" and unacceptable to the people who follow the faith.
4. In Bengal, we celebrate together: Nusrat Jahan
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Zafar Sareshwala, a businessman from Ahmedabad, and chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, came out in support of Jahan.
"Nobody should have anything to do with what she does.
She is an adult. I have seen Muslim women in Bangladesh wearing 'Tika' (vermilion mark on the forehead). You cannot say from appearance who is a Muslim and who a Hindu," he said.
Sareshwala, considered close to the BJP, said the Rathyatra festival in Ahmedabad used to be a "tinderbox" until a few years ago and has now become an "island of peace" where a Muslim man is the first to garland the Lord.
"In West Bengal, we participate in festivals irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Bengal symbolises amity," Nusrat Jahan said.
Jahan was heavily trolled recently for wearing vermilion and sporting a mangalsutra at her oath-taking ceremony in Parliament.
Slamming the critics, the MP had tweeted she represented an "inclusive India... which is beyond the barriers of caste, creed and religion".
On Thursday, the Basirhat MP conveyed her gratitude to ISKCON for inviting her to the Rathyatra celebrations and extended her best wishes to all.
"NusratPutsIndiaFirst . Thank you @nusratchirps for inaugurating the 48th Kolkata Rathayatra. ISKCON is extremely grateful for the message and positivity which has been generated by your participation in today's festival. Let united India win," ISKON spokesperson Radharamn Das wrote on Twitter.
Though Banerjee attended the Rathyatra festival of ISKON in the past too, her presence with Jahan at the ceremony on Thursday was seen as an attempt by her to counter the BJP's charge of Muslim appeasement while seeking to send out the message of religious inclusivity.
