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Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor in series of tweets has said he is “taken aback by the attack” on Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for her comments on Goddess Kaali, and urged people to “lighten up and leave religion” to individuals to practice privately.
Reacting to the row, Tharoor said on Twitter, “I am no stranger to malicious manufactured controversy, but am still taken aback by the attack on @MahuaMoitra for saying what every Hindu knows, that our forms of worship vary widely across the country. What devotees offer as bhog (offering) says more about them than about the goddess”.
1/2 I am no stranger to malicious manufactured controversy, but am still taken aback by the attack on @MahuaMoitra for saying what every Hindu knows, that our forms of worship vary widely across the country. What devotees offer as bhog says more about them than about the goddess.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 6, 2022
“We have reached a stage where no one can say anything publicly about any aspect of religion without someone claiming to be offended. It’s obvious that @MahuaMoitra wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I urge every1 to lighten up & leave religion to individuals to practice privately,” he said.
2/2 We have reached a stage where no one can say anything publicly about any aspect of religion without someone claiming to be offended. It’s obvious that @MahuaMoitra wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I urge every1 to lighten up&leave religion to individuals to practice privately.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 6, 2022
Moitra earlier stirred a controversy with her remarks that she has every right as “an individual to imagine Goddess Kaali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess”, as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in his or her own way.
Speaking at The India Today conclave East held in Kolkata, the Krishnanagar MP said it is up to individuals how they view their gods.
“If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they give whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous, she said.
Moitra said that people have the right to imagine their gods or goddess in the way they want. “For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess. And if you go to Tarapith (a major Shakti peeth in West Bengal’s Birbhum district), you will see sadhus smoking. That is the version of Kali people worship (there). I, within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper, have the right to imagine Kali in that way; that is my freedom, she said.
The TMC took to Twitter to condemn the MP’s comments and clarified that they were made in her personal capacity and the party does not endorse them
The comments made by @MahuaMoitra at the #IndiaTodayConclaveEast2022 and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are NOT ENDORSED BY THE PARTY in ANY MANNER OR FORM.
All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments.
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 5, 2022
Meanwhile , a FIR has been registered against TMC MP Mahua Moitra in Bhopal over her alleged controversial statement on Goddess Kali. Case registered under section 295A of IPC for hurting religious sentiments.
Mahua Moitra too reacted to the BJP attacks with her tweet
Bring it on BJP!
Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls.
Truth doesn’t need back up forces.
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) July 6, 2022
