Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 12 : Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, while paying respects to Swami Vivekananda on his 164th birth anniversary, vowed to "bring back the state's fame and rejuvenate its culture" by removing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Reminiscing about the time when great figures like Vivekananda, Rabindranath, Ram Mohan used to be on this land, he criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for being a "file chor, coal chor" and being associated for such scams.
"People like Vivekananda, Rabindranath, Ram Mohan used to roam on this land, now file chor, coal chor is roaming this land. Why because the atmosphere is such, now it is high time to rejuvenate the culture of Bengal. We have to make this land, the land of Vivekananda," Majumdar told reporters in Kolkata.
The Union Minister's comments come a few days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the political consultancy firm I-PAC's office in relation to a coal pilferage scam, with CM Banerjee coming to the scene of the raid and allegedly took "key evidence" the ED needed to probe the allegations of money laundering.
Majumdar also urged people to take an oath on the auspicious day of Vivekananda's birth anniversary, to remove the people associated with these scams.
"We should try to make Bengal, the heart of Cultural Revolution and Educational Revolution, once again and today is the most auspicious day we should take the oath for that and to do so we have to remove the people those are associated with all these scam and I feel that the TMC government should be removed to bring back the fame of West Bengal again," he said.
Minister Majumdar earlier paid a floral tribute to Swami Vivekananda at Kolkata's Ramkrishna Mission, Vivekanada's ancestral house and cultural centre.
At the Ramakrishna mission, the day has been celebrated by hundreds of people who paid a floral tribute to his statue.
West Bengal assembly's LoP, Suvendu Adhikari, also paid tributes and urged the youth to "come forward to save Bengal and to strengthen India"
The National Youth Day or Rashtriya Yuva Divas is celebrated on January 12 every year in commemoration of the great spiritual leader, philosopher and thinker Swami Vivekananda.
Born Narendranath Datta, Vivekananda was a key figure in the renaissance of Hinduism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His fiery eloquence, profound understanding of Eastern and Western philosophies, and unwavering belief in the potential of youth resonated deeply with audiences worldwide. His landmark speech at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893 is widely considered a turning point in the global perception of Hinduism.