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| Mamata Banerjee seems to be the first leader to invoke both Ishwar and Allah in the same oath. |
May 27, 2016, NewsCrunch
Mamata Banerjee took oath on Friday as the chief minister of
The oath was administered by the state governor and senior BJP leader Keshari Nath Tripathi.
The Indian constituent allows officials to take oath in the name of any religion. In 2014, Modi took oath name in the name of Ishwar.
In 2011, Jharkhand governor Syed Ahmad had taken oath in the name of "Allah". When a petition had challengedit, the Supreme Court had thrown it out saying god was formless and could not be confined to any religion or name.
Mamata Banerjee seems to be the first leader to invoke both Ishwar and Allah in the same oath.
By invoking both Ishwar and Allah, Mamata Banerjee was acknowledging the importance of both Hindu and Muslim vote banks in
At 25% of the population, Muslim support is crucial. The fragmented Hindu vote bank is being consolidated by a BJP in ascendance, putting a new pressure on Mamata Banerjee to appeal to them.
She is likely to walk a tight rope, taking care not to antagonise either. Mamata Banerjee has said she is willing to work with the central government on issues such as GST, while firmly staying rooted in the secular camp.
Her swearing in ceremony was attended mostly by leaders opposed to Modi - Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Farooq Abdullah and Kanimozhi.
Arun Jaitley was the lone BJP leader in attendance.