PM Narendra Modi (L) and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee (R).
Credit: PTI Photos
Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of buckling under pressure from Muslim radicals and making comments against Hindu socio-religious organizations like Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha.
Modi stepped up his attack against Banerjee just a day before seven Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal would go to polls, along with 42 others in other states and union territories across the country.
Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, came under sharp attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party after she had said in an election rally that some of the monks of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha and the Ramakrishna Mission were getting involved in politics at the behest of the saffron party.
She had made the comment at an election rally in the state’s Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency on Saturday. She, however, underlined that she did respect the monks of the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha and that only a few of them, not all, were getting involved in campaigning against the Trinamool Congress.
“In West Bengal, (the) TMC is synonymous with terrorism, corruption, appeasement and nepotism. To appease its vote bank, the TMC is insulting the Hindu society and its faith. The entire country is angry due to the recent derogatory statement made by West Bengal chief minister,” Modi said at a rally in Medinipur on Sunday. In another rally in Bishnupur, the prime minister said that the TMC supremo had come under pressure from the Muslim fundamentalists to attack the Hindu saints and monks of the country.
He said that the socio-religious organisations had millions of devotees and followers around the world, but the TMC chief had threatened them only to appease her party’s vote bank.
Other BJP leaders, including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, also slammed the TMC supremo for her comments on Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha.
“The TMC is jittery because the party sees its time is over,” Modi said in Bishnupur, adding: “In their desperation, TMC leaders have started hurling abuses at prestigious organisations like ISKCON, Ramakrishna Mission, and Bharat Sevashram Sangha. These organisations have brought glory to (West) Bengal, but the chief minister of this state claims that they are ruining (West) Bengal. Under pressure from Muslim fundamentalists, she (Banerjee) has publicly insulted our faith.”
Modi continued his attack on Banerjee while addressing yet another rally in Purulia. A monk representing the local unit of Bharat Sevashram Sangh was on the podium when the prime minister condemned the West Bengal chief minister’s comments about the socio-religious organisations.
The spokespersons of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha and the Ramakrishna Mission said that the institutions had nothing to do with politics.
Ramakrishna Mission was established by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. It was named after Ramakrishna Paramhansa, the spiritual mentor of Swami Vivekananda. The mission officially maintains that it is an apolitical organisation. Modi and Banerjee, like many other political leaders, visited the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission in Belur Math near Kolkata on several occasions.
The Bharat Sevashram Sangha was established by Swami Pranavananda Maharaj in 1917. The ISKCON was founded by A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966.
Banerjee had on Saturday named a monk of Bharat Sevashram Sangha in the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency of the state. She had said that he had vowed not to allow any TMC agent in any polling booth. She had also said that she would not regard such a person as a monk as he had got himself directly involved with politics. The monk she had referred to had purportedly been involved with organising a mass Bhagwat Gita recital held at Faras Danga in Murshidabad ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “I respect the Bharat Sevashram Sangha a lot. It has been on my list of respected institutions for a long time,” the TMC supremo had said. She had also alleged that some monks of Ramakrishna Mission had received words from New Delhi to ask devotees to vote for the BJP. She had specifically referred to a Ramakrishna Mission unit in Asansol and then referred to a WhatsApp group linked to it. “I know the (monks of) Ramakrishna Mission do not vote. Then why should they ask for votes?”
She had gone on to list her and her government’s endeavours to support the works of the ISKCON, which, according to her, had been granted 700 acres of land at Mayapur in the Nadia district of the State. She had also mentioned how she had helped the Ramakrishna Mission during the erstwhile regime of the Left Front.
“We try to spread the eternal values of religion and spiritualism among people. Neither the mission nor any monk of our order had asked anyone to vote for any particular party,” a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Mission said. “Neither do we indulge in politics nor ask people to vote for any party,” echoed a spokesperson of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha.