Mahua was right about Goddess Kali, but Trinamool wouldn't stand by her

Anyone acquainted with rituals involved in the worship of the Goddess Kali would agree with Mohua Moitra’s recent representation of the tongue-protruding deity with a garland of severed human heads.

The Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar described the deity at a conclave this month as a “meat-eating and alcohol-accepting” goddess, much to the chagrin of self-appointed keepers of Hinduism.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took affront to the remark claiming it had hurt the sentiments of Hindus, undermining the fact that the worship of the goddess is not deemed complete without the offering of meat and alcohol.

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In fact a ‘sacred’ mutton preparation called ‘proshadi mungsho’ or vegetarian meat cooked without onions and garlic is almost synonymous with the Kali Puja in Bengal.

As per the tantric tradition of Hinduism, as described in the fifteenth chapter of Niruttara Tantra, ‘Panchamakara’ also known as five “Ms” are essential for invoking the goddess, who is perhaps the most complex deity in the Hindu pantheon.

Also read: Mahua Moitra: Trinamool’s firebrand MP who is under fire

The five Ms stand for ‘madya’ (alcohol), ‘mansha’ (meat), ‘matsya’ (fish), ‘mudra’ (coin) and ‘maithuna’ (sexual coupling).

‘Nara bali’ or human sacrifice was integral to Kali puja in the not-too-distant past. Even today, animals are sacrificed in many Kali temples across India.

These rituals only go on to show that the controversy surrounding Moitra’s remark is more about politics than upholding Hinduism.

The BJP’s stand on the issue is understandable given its penchant for whipping up religious sentiment for political gains.

But the view of Moitra’s own party on the controversy needs to be seen in the context of the TMC’s expansionist pan-India ambition as well as the MP’s standing within the outfit.

“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,” the party tweeted even as the BJP was gunning for the scalp of its most articulate voice in the parliament.

The TMC was well aware that in Bengal, where the Kali is mostly worshipped, the controversy would be a non-issue because what Moitra said is not only a well-known fact but is also widely practiced.

Would anyone have known it better than the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee herself, who every year organises Kali puja in her house located just a stone’s throw away from Kalighat, one of the most famous Kali temples in the country?

Though alcohol is not offered to the deity in Kalighat, meat and fish preparations are a must in the list of bhog offered to her. But in Tarapith, a famous Shakti Peeth in Birbhum district, and many other Kali temples and community pujas across the state ‘karonbari’ (alcohol) is openly offered to the goddess.

Also read: ‘Kali’ remarks: BJP demands Mahua Moitra’s arrest; MP unfollows TMC on Twitter

So if anything, a Kali devotee in Bengal would be rather surprised by the brouhaha over her remark.

The need to toe BJP’s model of Hindutva

By distancing itself from Moitra’s comment, the TMC was actually trying to pander to the Hindutva heartland where there is a growing trend these days of seeing any deviation from the monolithic Brahminical way of Hinduism as blasphemous.

This oversensitive Hindutva lobby which is hell-bent to wipe out any trace of diversity within Hinduism has become so powerful that a few years ago it forced a popular edible oil brand to apologise and withdraw an advertisement that had shown a couple eating non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja.

Of late it has become a ritual for this group during Durga Puja to run an orchestrated campaign for vegetarianism because the festival coincided with Navratri — when most non-Bengali Hindus observe fast and eat vegetarian foods.

The TMC of late has started nurturing an ambitious plan to spread its wings beyond Bengal. It has recently even helped launch a campaign called ‘India Wants Mamata Di’ rolled out by a social media community “believing in the ideology of Mamata Banerjee and All India Trinamool Congress, the party that she leads.”

There is a line of thinking within the TMC that it cannot grow into a strong national party to take on the BJP by antagonising the core Hindutva support base outright.

It’s the same political thinking that forced even the Congress to disassociate itself from its Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor’s tweet supporting Moitra.

What it means to be Mahua Moitra?

There lies the problem in being a Mahua Moitra, a strong liberal and secular voice having a mind of her own. Despite her speeches in Parliament winning plaudits, the investment-banker turned politician is not very popular within the party she had joined in 2010 after a brief stint in the Congress.

Many in the TMC see her as an elitist, not cut out for the wear and tear of Bengal politics. Her style of functioning often pits herself against her own party leaders. She in the past drew ire of a section of the party for openly raising voice against cut-money culture prevailing in the TMC.

“If anyone in the name of giving jobs tries to extort money, please lodge a complaint in writing to the police or at my office,” she had written on her Facebook page a couple of months ago.

Also read: ‘Kaali’ poster row: Indian mission in Canada urges authorities to withdraw ‘provocative material’

“There is no need to be afraid of anyone, no matter how influential the person is; the law will take its own course. So please come forward and let us break this nexus of corruption,” she had added.

In December last year when some posters were put up in Nadia district accusing a faction of the TMC leadership of corruption, Moitra was pulled up by none other than party chief hinting that the postering campaign was done at the behest of the MP.

Banerjee had later said that a police investigation revealed that the allegations (of corruption) were fake, while giving a message to Moitra.

“Mahua, let me give a clear message here. I don’t see who is in whose favour or against…. During an election the party will decide who will fight and who will not. So, there should not be any difference of opinion. Everyone has to work together,” she said at an administrative meeting where Moitra was present.

That Moitra did not take the message very seriously was evident when she unfollowed the TMC’s official twitter handle after the party condemned her Kali remark as an open show of defiance of party line.