There is nothing wrong in chanting Jai Sri Ram or Allah hu Akbar. Quite the most charitable construct that can be placed upon the raging discord over a profoundly religious chant is that both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress have gone on overkill.

There is distinctly a political overtone to the chant by footsoldiers of the BJP and the virulent opposition to the same as has been articulated by West Bengal’s impulsive Chief Minister. Between them, the line that demarcates religion from politics has been blurred, as Mamata Banerjee has averred.

And this can lead to complications on wholly different issues, just as historical data was diluted in the face of religious sentiment in the context of the Ram Janambhoomi/ Babari Masjid conundrum, prompting frontranking historians to cavil over what they called “manufactured history”.

Prudence would suggest that fact and faith be confined to distinct echo chambers. Well might the BJP savour its triumph in a state where it was till recently a legislative nonentity. So too must the Trinamool Congress reflect on its denouement. Yet it is hard not to wonder whether the BJP is attempting to reinforce its increased presence in Parliament ~ 18 out of 42 seats ~ by precipitating matters.

Was it really necessary to echo the chant of Jai Sri Ram to greet the Chief Minister’s convoy as it entered Bhatpara, near Kolkata, after the results were announced?

Conversely, was it really necessary for the Chief Minister to take such visible umbrage and fall into an obvious political trap? The episode made Miss Banerjee fly off the handle, reacting as though the utterance of the three words is a cognisable offence.

Hence the immediate directive to a senior police officer, overseeing security, to jot down the names of the perceived “offenders” ~ an indeterminate group ~ as also the place in Bengal’s North 24-Parganas district where it happened. Both the BJP’s insistence on the chant, now almost a chorus line, and the Chief Minister’s robust directive to the administration have steeled the resolve on either side of the political divide.

The sanctity of the three words has thus been denuded by both groups. It is hard not to wonder whether the BJP cadres, now gung-ho post election, are acting as agent provocateurs. The sublime descends to the ridiculous if indeed the purpose of the BJP activists is to provoke an ill-advised Chief Minister, who has quite disproportionately ordered severe police action.

Furthermore, she has put in place two Trinamool squads to counter the “influence of the RSS in West Bengal”. The initiative will almost certainly stoke tension. While trying to buttress its new-found enthusiasm, the BJP’s praxis runs counter to the stability the state direly needs.

Sad to reflect, the chant of Jai Sri Ram has turned out to be bitterly ironical in West Bengal through a quirky conjunction of the sacred and the profane.