Kolkata, Dec 7 (IANS) West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Sunday said that the Hindi language is like a mother while English is like a midwife mother. Speaking at the Gita recital at the Brigade Parade Ground, Governor Bose also said that West Bengal is ready to end what he described as religious arrogance.

“I will try to speak in Hindi. Forgive me if I make any mistakes. Hindi is our ‘national language’. The national language is like a mother. English is like a midwife mother. A midwife mother is never like a mother,” said Bose.

The Governor said that people have witnessed something taking place in Murshidabad a day before. It was an apparent reference to suspended Trinamool Congress leader Humayun Kabir laying the foundation stone for a Babri Masjid in Murshidabad’s Beldanga.

“Something was witnessed in Murshidabad a day before. West Bengal is ready to end religious arrogance,” said Bose, in a clear allusion to recent political and religious controversies in the state.

Reciting from the Bhagavad Gita, the Governor said: “Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam dharma-sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge”, which means “To protect the righteous, to annihilate the wicked, and to re-establish the principles of dharma I appear on this earth, age after age.”

He was speaking at the ‘Panch Lakkho Konthe Gita Path’ (Gita chanting by five lakh voices) programme at the Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday which was organised by the Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad, a collective of monks and spiritual leaders drawn from various monasteries and Hindu religious institutions across the state.

Lakhs of devotees took part in the Gita recital programme, turning the Brigade Parade Ground into a vast congregational space of chanting, prayer and political signalling.

Prominent figures such as Swami Pradiptananda Maharaj and BJP leaders such as Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, BJP Rajya Sabha MP and the party’s West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya, former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul, actor-turned BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh and others were in attendance.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty criticised Governor Bose for making what he termed political statements from a Constitutional office.

“The post of Governor is a Constitutional post. A lie is being told while sitting in the post of Governor. There is no national language according to the Constitution of India. The Constitution gives equal rights to every language in India. Those who want to impose Hindi as the national language are agents of Hindi imperialism. So is the Governor. Hindi and English are the official communication languages here,” said Chakraborty.

–IANS

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