"Anti-National": Mamata Banerjee, Union Minister Trade Barbs Over Mohan Bhagwat

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's comment Thursday about RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement - that the consecration of the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya last year marks "the true independence of Bharat" - drew an immediate response from the union government.

Junior Education Minister Sukunta Majumdar called the Trinamool Congress leader an "anti-national Chief Minister" and pointed to claims from September last year - that Ms Banerjee refused to give land for the Border Security Force to build a fence along the Bangladesh border.

Earlier today Ms Banerjee, a fierce and vocal critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, criticised the remarks by Bhagwat - whose group is seen as an ideological mentor to the BJP - as "an attempt to distort history.

"This is anti-national. I strongly condemn this dangerous remark... it should be withdrawn. This is an attempt to distort history. We are dedicated to keeping our independence intact (and) ready to sacrifice our lives for India...but not to tolerate this," she told reporters in Kolkata.

Ms Banerjee isn't the only senior opposition leader to have slammed Bhagwat.

At the opening of the Congress' new Delhi office on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi said the comment would have gotten the RSS chief arrested had it been said in any other country.

"... the chief of the RSS said India never achieved independence in 1947. He said true independence was achieved when the Ram Temple was built..." Mr Gandhi said.

READ | "Would Be Arrested In Another Country": Rahul Gandhi Slams Bhagwat

"To say India did not get independence in 1947 is an insult to every single Indian, and it is about time we stop listening to this nonsense..." Mr Gandhi raged in an all-out attack on the BJP.

In his attack Mr Gandhi also accused the RSS and BJP of having "captured every single institution of our country", and that his party is "now fighting... the Indian State itself".

The Congress leader's comment provoked a counterattack from the BJP, which sought to flip the narrative by accusing Mr Gandhi and his party of having "close links with urban Naxals and the Deep State (which) wants to defame, demean, and discredit India".

"The Congress has a history of encouraging forces that want a weak India. Their greed for power meant compromising the nation's integrity and betraying the trust of the people. But the people of India... decided they will always reject this rotten ideology," BJP chief JP Nadda said.

The row erupted after Bhagwat's comment Monday at an RSS event in Madhya Pradesh's Indore.

With input from agencies

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