Mamata Banerjee criticises PM Modi’s post on Ramakrishna, flags ‘cultural insensitivity’

A fresh political flashpoint has emerged on social media after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in a post marking his birth anniversary.

On Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister took to X and wrote, “Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ji ko unki janm-jayanti par aadarpoorn shraddhanjali. Unhone adhyatma aur sadhana ko jis prakar jeevanshakti ke roop mein sthapit kiya, vah har yug mein manavta ka kalyan karta rahega. Unke suvichar aur sandesh sadaiv prernapunj bane rahenge...(Respectful tributes to Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ji on his birth anniversary. The way he established spirituality and spiritual practice as a source of life force will continue to benefit humanity in every age. His noble thoughts and messages will always remain a source of inspiration.)

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The post was intended as a tribute to the 19th-century mystic and spiritual figure revered across the country.

Mamata Banerjee objects to use of ‘Swami’

Reposting the Prime Minister’s message, Mamata Banerjee strongly criticised the use of the prefix “Swami” before Ramakrishna’s name. In her response on X, she wrote:

"Shocked again! Yet again, our Prime Minister aggressively displays his cultural insensitivity to great figures of Bengal. Today is the janmatithi of Yugavatara (God's incarnation in our age) Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadeva. While trying to hail the great saint on this occasion, our PM added an unprecedented and improper prefix to the great saint's name, “Swami”!”

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“As is well known, Sri Ramakrishna was widely revered as Thakur (literally, God). While his ascetic disciples constituted the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission after their Master's demise, and those monks were then called “Swami” as per Indian traditions, the Master, the Acharya, himself continued to be referred to as Thakur. The prefix “Swami” was meant for his disciples in the Ramakrishna Order; but the holy trinity of the Order remained Thakur–Ma–Swamiji. Thakur is Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadeva, Ma is Ma Sarada, and Swamiji is Swami Vivekananda.”

“I urge the Prime Minister kindly not to discover new prefixes and suffixes for the great Renaissance figures of Bengal who shaped modern India,” she further added.