Mamata Banerjee targeted a prominent sadhu of Bharat Sevashram Sangh and held him responsible for the riots in Beldanga in Murshidabad during the Ram Navami procession last month. BSS monk Swami Pradiptananda sends legal notice to Banerjee seeking apology
With the Lok Sabha elections now in the final stages, a controversy of sorts has arisen between Mamata Banerjee and Bharat Sevashram Sangh (BSS) after the West Bengal Chief Minister alleged that some monks are working for the BJP.
In the last three days, Banerjee once again targeted the prominent BSS sadhu and held him responsible for the riots in Beldanga in Murshidabad during the Ram Navami procession last month.
“I am not against Ramakrishna Mission. Why should I be against any institution and show disrespect? I also met Maharaj (former RKM president),” Banerjee said at a public rally in Bishnupur constituency in Bankura district on Monday. When he was ill.” I only talked about one or two people. Bharat Sevashram Sangh is doing great charity work for the people and they love me too and that is Kartik Maharaj, who did not allow our agents to enter the polling stations. A few days before the elections in Murshidabad, they saw riots in the area. Instigated, so I took his name,” reported The Indian Express.
BSS’s Beldanga unit chief Swami Pradiptanand, also known as Karthik Maharaj, has sent a legal notice to the Trinamool Congress supremo asking him to tender an unconditional apology within 48 hours.
“…I call upon you [Banerjee] to immediately address the press, tender an unconditional apology, immediately withdraw your malicious and objectionable statement within 48 hours of receipt of notice and refrain from making similar statements against my client. “, which is defamatory and defames me as a ‘customer,'” Pradiptanand’s lawyer Bhattacharya said in the notice, Hindustan Times reported.
“In my legal memorandum, I said that the Prime Minister’s false allegations caused a reaction among monks and devotees. (I told him in the notice) that he should provide proof of the allegations made by him. Otherwise, he should tender an unconditional apology.” Should,” Pradiptanand told the media. He claimed that Banerjee’s remarks were extremely derogatory and demanded a reply within four days, otherwise he would take legal action.
However, BSS has distanced itself from Swami Pradiptananda’s statement. BSS headquarters principal secretary Swami Vishwatmananda said, “It honors Banerjee for the work she is doing for the poor,” The Times of India reported. Pradiptananda’s statements were made in his personal capacity and were not endorsed by the BSS. “This should not be said. It is unfortunate. No permission was sought from us (BSS headquarters). We will investigate the matter.”
What actually happened?
During his protest, Pradiptananda said: “All parties have cordial relations with me. Even TMC leaders came to meet me. Congress and BJP leaders also came to meet me. A section of people in Beldanga consider me their guardian. Agrees. There is no politics in this.” ,
She criticized Banerjee for not addressing the divisive communal statement made by her party MLA Humayun Kabir. He further said, “I have the right to protect my religion.”
At a rally on Saturday in Jairampatti in Hooghly, the birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna’s wife Sarada Devi, Mamata referred to Karthik Maharaj and said, “I do not consider him a saint because he is directly involved in politics and is ruining the country.” . I had a lot of respect for Bharat Sevashram Sangh.”
Banerjee also accused some members of the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) of working for the BJP. He further said that members of the Ramakrishna Mission receive “instructions from Delhi”. According to the Indian Express, Banerjee said, “Some monks of Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangh are working under the influence of BJP leaders in Delhi.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused Banerjee of calling ISKCON, RKM and BSS “ugly” and “threatening” to protect Muslims and infiltrators and described them as TMC’s vote banks.
“…The Prime Minister speaks ill of our great organizations and misuses them under pressure from extremist Islamic groups to garner votes. TMC is insulting the heritage and culture of Bengal. They repeatedly attack Ram Mandir ( In Ayodhya, Modi said at a rally in Bankura, “Don’t you answer the appeasement policy of TMC with your votes?”
ABOUT RAMKRISHNA MISSION :
While the Ramakrishna Mission was founded in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda, whom the RSS adopted as its symbol, the Shivashram Sangh Mission was founded in 1917 by the monk Pranabananda Maharaj and was involved in humanitarian relief across the country during natural disasters. Known to provide. ,
Although the Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely interconnected in many other ways and should be considered twin organizations. Their headquarters is called Belur Math, and it is located in Belur, West Bengal.
Prime Minister Modi claims to have close ties with the Ramakrishna Mathematics and Mission Foundation, and in June 2017, upon the death of its president Swami Atmastananda, he expressed his condolences and called it a “personal loss”. He posted on X that he received spiritual guidance from Swami Atmastananda in Rajkot, Gujarat. “I lived with him during a very important time in my life.”
ISKCON, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is a Hindu Vaishnava religious organization.
