Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and president of the partys youth wing Abhishek Banerjee mocked the BJP for indulging in tall talks about Swami Vivekananda but deviating from his basic ideology in true sense and spreading his ideas in a distorted manner. Banerjee led a mammoth rally from Golpark to Hazra in South Kolkata on Tuesday to pay tribute to Swamiji on his birth anniversary. "They (BJP leaders) take the name of Swamiji. But, in reality they try to create divisions among people in the name of religion (Mukhe bole Swami Vivekananda ar korme dhorme dhorme dwando). They utter the name of Ram, but act like Nathuram (Mukhe Ram ar Korme Nathuram). They are not able to pronounce the name of Swami Vivekananda properly and hence they have no right to speak about him," Banerjee said, reiterating that the TMC will not allow the saffron party to divide people along religious lines in Bengal. Nathuram Godse is condemned for assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He asserted that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has always followed the ideals of Swamiji who had spoken of women empowerment. He mentioned that Banerjees schemes like Kanyashree and Rupashree have significantly contributed towards women empowerment. "The Swasthya Sathi (health scheme for all) card is being issued in the name of a woman, who is being recognised as the head of the family. At Panchayat, 50 per cent reservations have been made for women in Bengal," he added. Substantiating his claims of BJPs false show of respect to Swamiji, Banerjee said: "In 2014, they had portrayed Swamiji with the Acche Din Aayenge slogan and won the election but they have not even given recognition to Belur Math once. In Gujarat, they built the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel statue investing Rs 3500 crore. We respect Sardar Ji, but why not build Swami Jis statue in Kolkata?" asked Banerjee. Banerjee also referred to BJPs vandalisation of the bust of social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in May 2019 in Kolkata. He claimed that the saffron party has little respect for the great men who have made Bengal proud. "Do you think the people of Bengal will pardon them who indulge in such activities?" he questioned. He further claimed that a number of political parties held rallies on Tuesday but his rally proved to be far ahead of others not only for its turn out but also for its spontaneity. Senior TMC leaders Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Bratya Basu, Debasish Kumar along with several others accompanied Abhishek in the 3.5 km padayatra. Before the rally, Banerjee visited Swamijis ancestral home at Shimla Street in North Kolkata and paid tribute.

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