'Now Our Country Burns,' Mahua Moitra Pens Note Amid 'Kaali' Poster Controversy

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on July 7 shared a poem on her Twitter titled Be Careful, Mahua! amid the ongoing row over her remarks on Goddess Kali.

She had addressed a question about a controversy over a movie poster showing Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette at India Today Conclave on July 5 and said Kali, for her, was a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. The comment did not go down well with many and stirred a new controversy.

Mahua Moitra Pens Poem Amid Row

The strongly-worded poem read, "You mean, Be quiet, don't make a sound... While our freedom they assail?" She further wrote, "The universities were the first to go... Then it was the journos' turn... Then the farmers and the activists, and now our country burns."

The MP who undersigned the poem under the title A Citizen Of India further mentioned, "Shine a light and speak some truth... Into that pit of dread."

Mahua, while addressing the controversy over a movie poster had said, "When you go to Sikkim, you will see that they offer whiskey to goddess Kali. But if you go to Uttar Pradesh, and if you tell them that you offer whiskey to the goddess as ‘prasad’, they will call it blasphemy."

The poster of a documentary had recently gone viral and people slammed the filmmaker saying it was an insult to the Hindu Goddess.

While Moitra's remarks sparked outrage among national parties, even TMC distanced itself from the controversy. The Trinamool Congress on their official Twitter handle wrote, "All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments."

Amit Malviya, BJP's Social Media Head, also criticised Moitra and said she cannot make similar comments about Gods of other religions. "Mamata Banerjee’s TMC is full of Hindu-hating bigots but this insult of Maa Kali, revered across West Bengal, by one of her party MPs, has offended every devotee," he tweeted.

Thus far, two complaints have been launched against Moitra for her remark in West Bengal; the complaints were filed on July 6. While a complaint was filed by the crime branch in Bhopal on July 5 under 295 A (outraging religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code.

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