Bharat Sevashram Sangha national secretary Swami Biswatmananda Maharaj on Tuesday said the public will protest West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s comments against them and soon give its verdict. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also registered his protest and stood by the monastic order.
His comments came a day after Swami Pradiptananda Maharaj, also known as Kartik Maharaj, announced he had sent a legal notice to Banerjee, demanding an apology for her allegedly defamatory remarks about the organisation. Swami Biswatmananda, also known as Dilip Maharaj, had earlier claimed he was unaware of the issue.
“The public will protest; the public will give its verdict. We don’t have to say much as even the prime minister has stood by us, he even messaged me yesterday,” the monk said, when asked for his reaction on Banerjee’s remarks that they were working as per instructions of the BJP.
Sharing a media byte of Swami Biswatmananda’s statements to a Bangla news channel, senior BJP leader Amit Malviya said the country will protest the chief minister’s “rabid” comments against Hindu organisations like ISKCON, Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS) and Ramakrishna Mission (RKM). He even invoked the Bhagavad Gita, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s support for the monks through the use of some verses.
“(To protect the Sadhus, destroy the Evil Forces, and establish Dharma, I come in every Yuga)…” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
He added: “Swami Biswatmananda (Dilip Maharaj), General Secretary of Bharat Sevashram Sangh says that the entire country will protest Mamata Banerjee’s rabid comments against Hindu organisations like ISKCON, Bharat Sevashram and Ramakrishna Mission. He appreciates Prime Minister Modi for standing besides them, along with the countrymen.”
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥ (To protect the Sadhus, destroy the Evil Forces, and establish Dharma, I come in every Yuga)
Swami Biswatmananda (Dilip Maharaj), General Secretary of Bharat Sevashram Sangh says that the… pic.twitter.com/cgGXqt1a2A
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) May 21, 2024
On Monday (May 20), the PM and Banerjee engaged in a heated exchange over her remarks against Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha, with Modi accusing the Trinamool Congress of threatening monks for vote bank politics and Banerjee clarifying that her criticism was directed at certain individuals, not the institutions.
Addressing an election rally in Jhargram, PM Modi condemned the vandalism at Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Jalpaiguri on Sunday night (May 19) and accused the TMC regime of instigating violence against monks to appease their vote bank.
“It is shameful that the TMC has taken up the onus of hurting the religious faith of Hindus in Bengal. The CM is threatening the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Ashram monks. On Sunday, Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Jalpaiguri was attacked. The people of Bengal will not tolerate this,” he said.
His remarks followed the vandalism incident, where miscreants stormed the RKM ashram premises in Jalpaiguri, threatening monks and other employees at gunpoint. “Around 10 armed youths barged into our ashram at 3 am, went to the first floor and threatened the eight people present there – including senior monks – at gunpoint to leave the premises,” an ashram official said.
The attackers then vandalised the premises, breaking CCTV cameras and locking the main gate before fleeing. Police later rescued the stranded monks and staff. An ashram official suggested that a local land mafia was behind the incident, which was reportedly a property dispute issue. The monks have lodged a complaint at Bhaktinagar police station against a local thug and his associates.
Political tensions have intensified as both the BJP and TMC used the development to galvanise their support bases during the elections, with the BJP portraying the attack as part of a broader pattern of religious intolerance under the TMC and Banerjee defending her commitment to religious and philanthropic institutions while denouncing political meddling by certain individuals.
Banerjee, speaking at rallies in Onda and Panskura earlier, praised the RKM and BSS for their philanthropic work and said her criticism was directed at specific persons. “I am not against the Ramakrishna Mission, why should I be against an institution or insult it?” she asked, adding, “I have spoken about one or two persons.”
She recounted her past support for the RKM, highlighting how she saved Swami Vivekananda’s house in Kolkata from being sold and secured the house where Sister Nivedita stayed in Darjeeling. She also mentioned the construction of a skywalk to Dakshineswar temple from the Metro railway station.
The CM singled out Kartik Maharaj of the BSS, accusing him of political activities and instigating clashes in Rejinagar. “If he wants to canvass for BJP, he can, but should do it wearing its badge,” she said, alleging that he was previously aligned with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Claiming that the BSS monk from Murshidabad district was working for the BJP, she accused him of instigating people when clashes between two groups happened at Rejinagar a few weeks ago. “I had spoken about Kartik Maharaj, he did not allow Trinamool Congress agent to sit (at a polling booth) in Rejinagar,” she added.
(With PTI inputs)
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