West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday condemned the killing of Bangladeshi writer and blogger, Avijit Roy. “I have no language of consolation for the bereaved family. We condemn those who did this act of killing,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson said.
“I strongly condemn the brutal murder of the Bangladeshi writer. We believe in freedom of expression,” Ms. Banerjee tweeted.
Interestingly, Ms. Banerjee’s key Opposition in Bengal — the BJP — often alleges that the Chief Minister is “importing religious fundamentalists” from Bangladesh to West Bengal and marginalising the majority community. The opinion has developed on the basis of certain perceptions spread by public posturing of the Chief Minister, which indicated that Ms. Banerjee is keen to align herself with the minorities rather than the majorities.
As a result, the Hindu vote base was fast consolidating against the TMC. It was evident after a few by-polls, and Ms Banerjee immediately started indicating that she is against all kinds of “religious fundamentalism” and not against any particular religion.
Her tweets demanding “freedom of expression” thus indicate Ms Banerjee has now modified her position and is keen to flag the identity related issues of all the communities, rather than only those of who vote en masse for the TMC.