Mamata Banerjee accuses PM Modi of cultural insensitivity in Ramakrishna tribute

Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticised Narendra Modi over his social media tribute to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, objecting to the Prime Minister’s use of the prefix “Swami” while marking the saint’s birth anniversary.

Reposting the Prime Minister’s message on X, the West Bengal Chief Minister described the wording as culturally insensitive and said it reflected a lack of understanding of Bengal’s spiritual traditions.

In her statement, Banerjee pointed out that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is traditionally revered as “Thakur” (God), and that the honorific “Swami” is used for his monastic disciples. She asserted that applying the prefix to the 19th-century mystic himself was historically and spiritually inaccurate.

The Chief Minister also referred to what she termed the “holy trinity” of the Ramakrishna order — Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna), Ma (his spiritual consort Sarada Devi) and Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda). She noted that this tradition is upheld by Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, headquartered at Belur Math.

Banerjee urged the Prime Minister to refrain from introducing what she described as “new prefixes and suffixes” for key figures of Bengal’s renaissance who contributed significantly to modern India.

The Prime Minister, in his post in Hindi, had extended greetings to “Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa ji” on the occasion of Ramakrishna Jayanti. A similar tribute had been posted by him the previous year.

The exchange comes amid heightened political activity in West Bengal as parties begin positioning themselves ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

With IANS inputs