Hindu temples and shrines have been an eyesore for the secular Republic of India. After having robbed the temples of their wealth, interfered in the process of appointing priests, curtailed their spiritual powers and done everything short of demolishing the temple structures, the state now seeks to wrest the control of temples from the Hindus.
Hindu temples and shrines must be sacrificed at the altar of secularism to please the minorities and placate vote banks. That perhaps is the reason why Mamata Bannerjee, the High priestess of Secularism and vote bank politics in the country, has chosen to nominate her MLA, Firhad Hakim as the head of Tarakeshwar Temple in the state.
Incidentally, Firhad Hakim has no background in managing Hindu shrines nor does he have any understanding of Hindu philosophy and culture. In fact, the term Islamic supremacist might describe his credentials better. Why then was Firhad Hakim chosen as the person to manage Tarkeshwar Temple? Because Muslims, who constitute nearly 30% of the population in West Bengal are a crucial votebank for Mamata Bannerjee. Given that Hindus are fissured into castes and jatis and other sub groups, it is eminently desirable to keep the Muslim vote bank happy to hold on to power.
Firhad Hakim, Mamata’s MLA from Kolkata’s Port constituency is more famous as the man who introduced his constituency to Pakistani newspaper Dawn’s reporter as ‘Mini Pakistan‘. Read the account of the Dawn reporter and one gets the feeling that far from being a great Secularist who would reinvigorate the Tarakeshwar temple, Firhad ‘Bobby’ Hakim is a closet Jihadi who is content seeing Muslim women confined to their homes. Firhad Hakim is an Urdu-speaking Bihari whose forefathers settled in Bengal.
The reason why Hakim’s constituency reminded Dawn reporter of Pakistan is because it was festooned with slogans in Urdu, with speeches delivered in Urdu, rather than Bengali. And that is not all. Firhad Hakim is also facing a CBI inquiry in the Narada scam. Perhaps, these qualifications made him better qualified to head the Tarakeshwar Temple Development Board in Mamata Banerjee’s eyes.
Ever since she took power, Mamata Banerjee has set the communal cauldron in her state simmering. While the Communists were no better, they at least avoided the overt appeasement of minorities at Hindus’ expense. Mamata has ensured that she leaves no stone unturned in pleasing the minorities even if it pits her against the majority community.
From Deganga to Kaliachak, from Nadia to Dhulagarh, Bengal is burning under Mamata’s watch. Reports have been emerging in the media from time to time showing that a creeping Islamization of West Bengal is underway. Mullahs and Maulanas have virtually converted parts of the state into sharia compliant zones, where the writ of the secular law does not run and yet Mamata does nothing.
Hindus continue to trickle out of the state as they are pushed out of their homes by changing demographics and a rising feeling of insecurity. Far from being a secular utopia as Mamata projects it, West Bengal is gradually becoming unliveable for its Hindu majority.
Nothing other than pandering to vote banks, therefore can be the logic behind the preposterous decision to put Firhad Hakim as the head of Tarakeshwar temple.
The temple’s rich and glorious past, the adherents’ belief in the shrine being a Jyotirlinga, its unique style in the finest traditions of Bengali architecture and the millions who throng it meant that the temple deserved somebody whose credentials would have done justice to the shrine’s eminence. Sadly, Mamata Banerjee chose to put a closet Jihadi at its helm.
The standard argument against opposing Mamata’s decision is why can’t a Muslim be in charge of a Hindu shrine. After all, it doesn’t violate any constitutional provision. One can’t beat this logic. Therefore, one earnestly hopes that Mamata Bannerjee would soon award the Chairmanship of Tipu Sultan Mosque to Praveen Togadia or some other equally qualified Hindu. Furfura Sharif can be offered to Vinay Katiyar or Sadhvi Pragya. After all, for the state to appear secular it must either be militantly atheistic or treat all religions equally. Surely, Mamata Bannerjee wouldn’t want to invite criticism of her secular credentials like Subramanian Swamy threatening her with legal action over this case.
I have already set up my legal eagle team for Bengal to challenge Mamata's horrible temple appointment. Writ Petition will be filed
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 19, 2017
Not so long ago, Akhilesh Yadav played a similar mischief by appointing Azam Khan as the Prabhari of the Kumbh Mela. The decision had invited scorn because of Azam Khan’s credentials and Akhilesh Yadav’s pro-minority bias. The elections that followed threw up results which are there for everyone to see. Even in West Bengal, which for decades has remained impervious to religion-based politics, blatant minority appeasement is forcing people to do a rethink. Mamata Banerjee must never forget Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s apocalyptic words
