Actor-turned-politician Moon Moon Sen, a Trinamool Congress candidate for the national election
Highlights
- Moon Moon Sen responded to question on vandalism of Vidyasagar statue
- "Tiny bit of violence," she said after casting her vote today
- Her "bed tea" comment on violence in Asansol had gone viral
Actor-turned-politician Moon Moon Sen, a Trinamool Congress candidate for the national election, was again accused of making a comment that undermined the violence in Bengal on the last day of voting for the national election on Sunday. "This is a tiny bit of violence," Moon Moon Sen said as she responded to a question on the vandalism of a statue of iconic 19th century reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar during clashes in Kolkata at BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow last week.
"Things have been polarised for the last six years in Bengal and it wasn't the Bengalis. There may have been a little bit of violence like in other states, but no one talks about the violence in the last five years in Uttar Pradesh...This is a tiny bit of violence," Moon Moon Sen told NDTV after casting her vote in Kolkata.
The Kolkata clashes led to the Election Commission cutting short the campaign, leaving Trinamool chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fuming.
She continued: "...and the Vidyasagar statue on College Street - no Bengali will do it unless he has changed parties from the Trinamool. We are secular in Kolkata... non-Bengali include Sikhs, Jews, Armenians, Gujaratis, Muslims, everyone. There are so many Tagore statues, no one has broken them. This is vandalism."
Moon Moon Sen had earlier delivered one of the most memorable lines in this national election on the day voting took place in Asansol, from where she is contesting the polls against the BJP's lawmaker Babul Supriyo, a singer-turned-politician.
When clashes erupted between the BJP and Trinamool workers on April 29, Moon Moon Sen had said: "A little violence always happens."
She told NDTV that she "hadn't heard anything" because she had woken up late. "They gave me my bed tea very late so I woke up very late. What can I say? I really don't know," the actor-politician remarked, becoming social media fodder for the next few days.
Half a dozen people were injured and over 100 people were arrested that day.
Moon Moon Sen was dubbed the "giant-killer" in 2014 when she defeated a nine-time Left lawmaker in Bankura.
As her "bed tea" comment went viral, Moon Moon Sen tried to explain to reporters that after a tough campaign, she took the day off. "That doesn't mean I am ignorant, that people are fighting and I am sipping tea in bed," she said.