Kolkata, February 19 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday for using the word "Swami" as a prefix in a social media post commemorating the birth anniversary of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, alleging that the Prime Minister displayed "cultural insensitivity" towards the great figures of the state.
Banerjee said that the Prime Minister used the prefix "Swami" in the message, while Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is widely known as "Thakur".
"Shocked again! Once again, our Prime Minister aggressively displays his cultural insensitivity towards great figures of Bengal. Today is the janmatithi (birth anniversary) of Yugavatara (God's incarnation in our age), Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadeva.
"While trying to honour the great saint on this occasion, our PM added an unprecedented and inappropriate prefix to the saint's name, "Swami"!" Banerjee posted on X.
Modi paid tributes to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa on his birth anniversary on Thursday, saying that his noble thoughts will forever remain a source of inspiration.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born in 1836.
"Humble tributes to Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa on his birth anniversary. The way he established spirituality and meditation as a vital life force will continue to benefit humanity in every era. His noble thoughts and messages will forever remain a source of inspiration," Modi said in a post on X in Hindi.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who served as a priest in Kolkata's Dakshineswar Kali Temple, is known for his teachings on the harmony of religions.
"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," Banerjee said.
She said that 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".
Banerjee urged the Prime Minister "kindly not to discover new prefixes and suffixes for the great Renaissance figures of Bengal who shaped modern India".
She had earlier criticised the PM over his reference to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as "Bankim da" during a discussion in Lok Sabha in December last year to commemorate 150 years of the national song, Vande Mataram, written by the author.
TMC MP Saugata Roy had objected to the use of the suffix 'da' and urged the PM to say 'Bankim babu' instead.
Modi had immediately accepted, saying, "I will say Bankim 'babu'. Thank you, I respect your sentiments."
