TMC’s Birbhum office now has a ‘thakur ghar’

Birbhum: A three-storeyed air-conditioned party office with a thakur ghar is Trinamool Birbhum president Anubrata Mandal’s latest co-ntribution to Bengal politics.
Mandal has set up a permanent thakur ghar in the newly constructed Birbhum TMC office, when no other party, not even the Trinamool headquarters (Trinamool Bhavan in Kolkata), has such an arrangement inside.
Mandal has carved out a space on the second floor of the office where idols of Kali, Jagannath and other Hindu deities have been installed. TMC district vice-president Abhijit Singha performed the rituals dressed in pattabastra during inauguration of the building on Saturday.
“This thakur ghar is permanent. We will do regular puja here,” Singha said.
If this seems like an attempt to take a pro-Hindu stance, Mandal has tempered it with a dose of sarba dharma. The walls beside the TV room flaunt pictures of Ajmer Sharif Dargah, sacred to Muslims. “We also have a replica of Data Saheb, a well-known Sufi saint from Birbhum. We have respect for all religions,” Mandal said.
Birbhum BJP saw this as another ploy by Mandal to win over large sections who have distanced themselves from Trinamool. “People are disgusted with its minority appeasement. The Trinamool chief is thus chanting Hindu mantras on the dais and Mandal is setting up temples inside party office to win th-em over,” said BJP Birbhum president Ramkrishnan Roy.
He said the proposed BJP party office in Birbhum may have a meditation hall but would not house a temple.