Oppose Jai Sri Ram, Get Beaten, Says Bengal BJP Boss. Agreed, Says Senior

Kolkata: With saffron banners and sharp weapons, Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh led an unprecedented set of rallies on Ram Navami earlier this month seen as a message for the party's political opponents in the state. Weeks later, he followed that by words which could not be more blunt: "We will skin you, we will change the geography of your face".

The Trinamool Congress and CPM say this is not Bengal's culture. But Mr Ghosh or his party do not seem to care and have only doubled down on the offensive.

At a public meeting at Minakha in North 24 district on Saturday evening, Mr Ghosh said, "Jai Sri Ram will be chanted across the country: from Gujarat to Bengal, Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Those who opposed it will become history."

"If you oppose, we will thrash you like clothes. We will skin you and change the geography of your face," he added.

Dilip Ghosh has gone on verbal offensives before but political rivals can't remember worse. Trinamool and, to an extent, CPM, are at the receiving end and seem unable to pay back in kind.

"Not Bengal's culture," has been their strongest reprimand so far. "They don't know history," Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee said. "It is BJP that will become history," he added.

But BJP workers are on a high and some central leaders ask what's wrong. 

"You must not misinterpret Dilip Ghosh's statement. Whether Hindu or Muslim, we are all patrons of Lord Ram. If you want to save the country, then Jai Sri Ram should be the foundation of our argument and narrative," said Union Minister Giriraj Singh.

Dilip Ghosh was not repentant when asked if he regretted his comments of yesterday. "If someone tells us not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai or Jai Sri Ram then they will become history."

"Just how Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP have become history, the people who would oppose our saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Jai Sri Ram would become history," he said.