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Three religious and social welfare organisations, all of them with headquarters in West Bengal – the Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS), Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) and International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) – have been caught in a political storm, which erupted between the ruling-Trinamool Congress government and its rival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over the weekend.
It all started on Saturday with chief minister Mamata Banerjee criticising in strong words a section of monks and naming one while accusing them of working on behalf of the BJP.
Referring to the Ramakrishna Mission founded by Swami Vivekananda, Banerjee said: “Instructions come from Delhi saying people should be told to vote for BJP. I know Ramakrishna Mission monks don’t cast votes. Then why should they do these things? There is a Ramakrishna Mission in Asansol. Have you forgotten how I helped you? Vivekananda’s home (in Kolkata) wouldn’t be there had this daughter not been around. The Left Front stopped your activities. Do you remember?” Banerjee had said.
Legal response
With Lok Sabha elections going on and Hindutva being one of the key issues this time, the BJP was prompt in mounting an attack on the TMC supremo.
“I am directly alleging that the chief minister is badmouthing our great organisations and maligning them under pressure from hardcore Muslim outfits to secure votes. TMC is insulting Bengal’s heritage and culture. They repeatedly use vulgar words against Ram Mandir (in Ayodhya). Won't you reply to TMC’s appeasement politics with your votes,” Modi said while addressing a campaign rally in Bankura district on Sunday.
The BJP frequently attacks the TMC supremo of appeasing minority communities and claiming that Hindus were being relegated as second-class citizens in the state under the present regime.
Banerjee, however, has often been heard announcing from public platforms about how she has stood beside these organisations to help them.
“I had stopped the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda from being sold out. Now people (political leaders) make a bee-line to that house just before elections. The state government acquired the house of Sister Nivedita (disciple of Swami Vivekananda) and restored it. Who has built the skywalk at Dakshineshwar Temple and the jetties at Belur Math? We have given 700 acres to ISKCON to build a new temple,” she said at a rally in Bankura on May 20.
In January 2020, Modi visited Belur Math, on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda Jayanti and National Youth Day. He even spent a night at the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, the first Prime Minister to do so.