Kolkata, March 15 The Ramakrishna Sarada Mission has issued a public notice clarifying that it has no branch in Minakha and has distanced itself from claims by a monk who allegedly presented himself as the president of a 'Minakha Ramakrishna Sarada Mission' in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, on March 6.
The monk had made the claim during the sit-in protest venue of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week.
In a notice from its headquarters at Dakshineswar earlier this week, the mission said it had come to know through devotees and media reports that a 'sanyasi' (ascetic) had publicly claimed to be the head of such an organisation.
Copies of the notice were made available on Sunday.
The mission clarified that Sri Sarada Math and the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission are duly registered institutions headquartered in Dakshineswar and are administered exclusively by women monastics (sannyasinis).
According to the notice, Sri Sarada Math was established in 1954 and formally registered in 1959 by the president of Ramakrishna Math at Belur Math to realize the vision of Swami Vivekananda of creating a women's monastic order inspired by the spiritual icon Maa Sarada Devi.
Later, the trustees of Sri Sarada Math set up the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission in 1960 to carry out educational, cultural, and charitable activities, the statement elaborated.
The mission emphasised that it does not have any branch in Minakha, North 24 Parganas, and termed the claim that a male monk is the president of such an organisation as "baseless and misleading".
It said it categorically dissociates itself from any such claims made in public.
The notice further stated that the names 'Sri Sarada Math' and 'Ramakrishna Sarada Mission', along with their official seal, symbol, emblem, and logo, are legally protected under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950.
"Any individual or organisation using these names or emblems without lawful authority would be liable for legal action under the provisions of the Act," the mission said in the statement issued by Pravrajika Atandraprana, general secretary of the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission.
The monk had also claimed that his name had been excluded from the voter list.
Addressing the gathering, Mamata Banerjee had said the incident exposed the claims of the BJP on religion. "See, they speak loudly about religion but exclude Ramakrishna Mission monks from voting rights," she remarked while referring to the presence of the person at the protest stage.
The person had told the gathering that, despite being associated with the Mission for years, his name was not found in the SIR list. He also said he was a disciple of the tenth president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vireshwarananda.
"I have been the president of the Minakhan Ramakrishna Sarada Mission for 14 years, yet my name has been cancelled. If such things continue, the situation in the country will become very bad," he had said.