Days after row, Mamata says she’s not against Ramakrishna Mission

Shubhadeep Choudhury

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New Delhi, May 20

Two days after alleging that some monks of the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha were working under instructions of the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today praised both the monastic orders for their philanthropic works. Banerjee said she was not against any institution but did not approve of one or two persons “indulging in politics”.

PM had slammed TMC leader for remarks

Mamata Banerjee’s remarks had drawn sharp criticism from PM Narendra Modi, who had alleged that she was “under pressure from Muslim extremists” and was threatening these socio-religious organisations to “appease” the TMC’s vote bank.

Banerjee’s remarks came after attacks on the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal by some anti-social elements in the early hours of Sunday.

The BJP had hit out at Banerjee, blaming her for the attack on Ramakrishna Mission monks. Calling it the “worst thing” she could have done to the state, party’s senior leader Amit Malviya alleged that this happened after her “threatening” comments against the mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha and ISKCON.

“After she threatened Ramakrishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangh and ISKCON from an open stage, criminals, with firearms and daggers entered Ramakrishna Mission Ashram under Kotwali PS in Jalpaiguri, and attacked the monks, broke CCTV, brandish firearms, forcefully detained the Sadhus and threw them on streets. This is nothing less than a Talibani regime,” Malviya, the BJP’s IT Cell chief and co-in-charge of the party’s West Bengal unit, wrote on X.

Banerjee’s remarks on Saturday, in which she had alleged that some monks “under instructions of the BJP”, had drawn sharp criticism from PM Narendra Modi, who had alleged that she was “under pressure from Muslim extremists” and was threatening these socio-religious organisations to “appease” the TMC’s vote bank.

Addressing a rally in Bankura’s Onda, Banerjee said on Monday: “I am not against Ramakrishna Mission, why should I be against an institution or insult it. I have spoken about one or two persons,” she said. The CM also praised Bharat Sevashram Sangha, saying that it works for the people.

“I had spoken about Kartik Maharaj, who did not allow a TMC agent to sit at a polling booth in Rejinagar,” Banerjee said. Claiming that the Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk from Murshidabad district was working for the BJP, she accused him of instigating people when clashes between two groups happened at Rejinagar. “If he wants to work for the BJP, he can, but should do it wearing its badge,” she said.