Isolated over Kaali remark, Mahua Moitra unfollows TMC on Twitter

Kolkata, July 06: After her own party TMC distanced itself from her remarks on goddess Kaali, Mahua Moitra has stopped following the official Twitter handle of the party. However, she still follows only TMC supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Trinamool MP on Tuesday said that she has every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess, as every person has the right to worship god and goddess in his or her own way. The ruling TMC, however, distanced itself from the comments and condemned the remarks by Moitra.

While taking part in India Today Conclave East held in Kolkata, the Krishnanagar MP said it is up to individuals how they view their gods.

"If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they give whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous," she said.

Moitra said people have the right to imagine their gods or goddess in the way they want.

"For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess. And if you go to Tarapith (a major Shakti peeth in West Bengal's Birbhum district), you will see sadhus smoking. That is the version of Kali people worship (there). I, within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper, have the right to imagine Kali in that way; that is my freedom," she said.

Moitra said this when asked about a film that had courted controversy after it had put up posters showing Goddess Kali smoking.