Ghatal (West Bengal), May 7 (IANS): Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Tuesday dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to slap as many cases she wants on him for chanting "Jai Sree Ram", days after three persons were arrested in the West Midnapore district for allegedly chanting the same when her convoy was passing through.
Addressing an election rally in Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency, where the incident took place on Saturday, Shah claimed no matter how much one tried, no one would be able to stop the people of India from following their cultural heritage.
"I have been seeing since the last few days, that Mamata-didi has objections if people of Bengal chant Jai Sree Ram. How can anybody stop us from uttering the name of Lord Ram, who dedicated his entire life to his country and his subjects?" Shah said.
"Mamata-didi, do whatever you want. I have raised the slogan of Jai Sree Ram from this stage. Slap whatever charges you want on me. But you will not be able to stop us from following our cultural traditions," he said while urging the people in the rally to repeatedly chant the name of Lord Ram with him.
Shah asked people to give Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress a befitting reply by handing 23 Lok Sabha seats from the state to the saffron party.
"I want to ask Mamata-didi, if not in India, will Lord Ram's name be chanted in Pakistan?"
"Provide 23 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal to Modiji. You will see all atrocities by Mamata-didi and her party will automatically stop," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday attacked Banerjee on the same issue during his two rallies in the state and accused her of throwing innocent people in jail for chanting the name of Lord Ram.
A video circulated on social media on May 4, showed the Chief Minister stepping out off her vehicle in a bid to confront a group of people chanting Jai Sree Ram, on her way to a public rally in Ghatal.
Upon seeing Banerjee's convoy stop, the people started fleeing but she dared them to come back and alleged some of them were using abusive language against her. Subsequently three persons were arrested from the area.
IANS has not verified the content of the video.