Kolkata: On May 18, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee took potshots at “a section of monks” for working at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s behest. She named three religious organisations popular among Bengali Hindus – Ramakrishna Mission (RKM), Bharat Sevashram Sangh (BSS) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as ISKCON. All of them enjoy fame beyond West Bengal.
In a state where the INDIA bloc’s general strategy was understood to be raising non-religious issues to prevent the BJP’s Hindu polarisation attempts, Banerjee’s outburst naming these organisations surprised many, including leaders of her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
“All monks are not the same. All family members are not the same. All of us (politicians) are not the same. There is a monk in Baharampur, Kartik Maharaj, of whom I have been hearing a lot for a long time. I used to have deep respect for the BSS. It has been on my list of respectable organisations for a long time. But I don’t consider the man who has said he would not allow TMC agents in polling booths to be a monk. He is directly in politics,” said the TMC chief while addressing a rally for the party’s Arambag Lok Sabha candidate in Hooghly district.
Kartik Maharaj, formally Swami Pradiptananda, heads the Belganda Ashram of the BSS in Murshidabad district. He was associated with the controversial ‘Kumbh Mela’ in Tribeni and Gita recital in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground.
Banerjee then said she had identified those who engaged in such political acts. “There is a Ramakrishna Mission (branch) in Asansol. What help did I not offer to the RKM? When the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) stopped your food, I stood by you. Women came and helped in cooking. I know, it’s only a handful (of monks), like the one in Asansol,” she said, adding that the RKM enjoys the respect of the masses.
“The RKM has a WhatsApp group for its members, for those who have taken Deeksha (initiation). I know the RKM does not take part in the electoral process. Why would they be advising others on voting? Some are violating, but not all. But do remember, the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda wouldn’t have been saved had this daughter of yours been not alive,” she said.
She also mentioned ISCKON, founded in New York but headquartered in the Nadia district. “I have given 700 acres of land to ISKCON for building their township in Nadia. They have a temple, a mission. A few such monks are there as well. Instructions come from Delhi to tell people to vote for the BJP. Why would monks be doing this?” she asked.
The BJP expectedly jumped on the issue, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead.
While addressing a rally in support of the BJP’s Purulia candidate the next day, Modi said, “The Bengal chief minister is openly threatening ISKCON, RKM and BSS monks… Freely giving them warnings. They have millions of devotees around the world and their only mission is to serve people. The Bengal government has raised a finger at them, threatening them by taking their names. Such audacity!” Modi alleged that Banerjee’s words were meant only to please the TMC’s ‘vote bank’.
He sharpened the attack from his next rally at Bishnupur in Bankura district. “The TMC has now started abusing monks who have devoted themselves to serving humanity. The world knows about the work of ISKCON, RKM and BSS. They brought Bengal fame and pride. They stood by people in times of happiness and sorrow. But the chief minister says these organisations are ruining the country,” said Modi.
He added, “My direct allegation is that the chief minister is publicly abusing and defaming our monks and our great organisations under pressure from Muslim hardliners to get votes. The TMC is constantly insulting monks and Bengal’s culture under pressure from their vote bank. These people arrange for vote jihad calls against Modi.” He then asked the gathering to respond against TMC’s ‘appeasement politics’ with their votes.
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Banerjee, perhaps realising the gravity of the matter, went to Bishnupur to address an unscheduled rally the next day only to respond to the prime minister’s charges. From the dias, she defended all that she had said earlier.
First, she clarified that she had nothing against RKM or BSS. “I have nothing against RKM. Why should I be against any institution or show disrespect? I went to visit the Maharaj when he was unwell. I enjoy a cordial relationship with the BSS Gangasagar unit. My complaint was against one particular individual,” she said. She then alleged that Kartik Maharaj was not only getting politically involved but also instigated the communal clash that happened in his neighbourhood a few days ago. “Should I spare rioters?” she asked the gathering.
The chief minister reminded people that she got her government to purchase the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda in Kolkata and the Darjeeling house where sister Nivedita breathed her last, which is why these places have become public properties. She mentioned her administration’s work in Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Maa Sarada’s ancestral places, Kamarpukur and Jairambati, as well as Dakshineshwar Kali temple and Belur Math in Kolkata’s outskirts – the four most iconic places associated with the RKM order. “I have done whatever they (RKM) have asked for,” Banerjee said.
Both RKM and BSS leadership tried to play down the controversy and expressed their unwillingness to get involved. Kartik Maharaj, however, has sent the chief minister a legal notice for defamation.
Kartik Maharaj, formally Swami Pradiptananda, heads the Belganda Ashram of the BSS in Murshidabad district. He was associated with the controversial ‘Kumbh Mela’ in Tribeni and Gita recital in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground.
The motive
According to a senior journalist, who did not want to be named, Banerjee appeared to have been irked by reports from districts that some monks who belonged to these organisations were working for the BJP and wanted to send a message to these institutions to restrain their monks from getting political. “I doubt if she properly weighed the pros and cons,” said the journalist.
CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said Banerjee’s remarks are intended to reinstate political bipolarity in the state. “It seems like she is fighting a losing battle and trying to stay afloat by polarising votes on communal lines. She brought in the issue of religion to divert attention from issues like corruption that troubles her party,” Salim told The Wire.
Salim suspects that the TMC chief sensed that a section of the party’s support base had started siding with the Left and she felt uncomfortable with the prospect of the Left’s revival. “She is trying to restore the electoral binary by resorting to communal polarisation,” he said.
Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty saw two possibilities. “One reason that comes to my mind is that she has sensed her party’s result in Baharampur, Asansol and Krishnanagar would not be as they expected and is finding a scapegoat in these organisations,” said Chakraborty, a professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata. “The second possibility is that she has sensed a pro-BJP Hindu polarisation on the ground, which is why she is sending a message to the minorities.”
Banerjee’s sudden potshots at monks involved with influential organisations surprised many TMC leaders. Her comments came when elections in more than half of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats were due – seven Lok Sabha seats on May 20, eight on May 25 and nine constituencies will vote on June 1.
Most of these constituencies in southern and southwestern Bengal are predominantly Hindu with pockets of Muslim concentration, except for Basirhat, Diamond Harbour and Joynagar, where Muslim polarisation can play a role. In most such Lok Sabha seats in the coming phases, only one or two assembly segments in a Lok Sabha constituency have sizable Muslim populations.
“In these constituencies, the BJP’s chances of gaining from Hindu polarisation is higher than our chance of gaining from Muslim polarisation. I am, indeed, surprised at Didi’s strategy. I hope she has a good plan to negate the BJP’s campaign,” said a TMC minister from one of the districts where polls are due in the coming phases.
Multiple TMC leaders fear that the controversy would not only help the BJP’s Hindu polarisation attempts but also prevent the BJP’s votes from returning to the Left.
Left parties in Bengal lost the overwhelming majority of their support to the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 assembly elections but showed signs of recovering a section of those votes in the 2022 civil polls and the 2023 panchayat elections.
Journalist Suman Bhattacharya, however, feels that Muslim polarisation is not on top of the TMC’s agenda. “If Muslim polarisation were her focus, she would have started it before the election in the majority of the state’s Muslim-concentration areas. In south Bengal’s Muslim-concentration pockets, the Muslims are already with the TMC.”
Bhattacharya thinks Banerjee intends to polarise liberal Hindu votes in the TMC’s favour. “In the 2021 assembly election, the No Vote to BJP campaign had played a key role behind polarising liberal Hindu votes in the TMC’s favour. This time, a section of this vote was likely to shift to the Left. She wants to ensure the anti-Hindutva liberal Hindu votes remain with her. This would not be more then 1-2% but even they can be useful in close contests.”
According to a leader of the West Bengal BJP who did not want to be named, they have got a shot in the arm. “In 2019, the TMC put the blame for the Vidyasagar statue vandalism on us. We suffered badly in the phases after the statue vandalism in Kolkata. This time, it is our chance to turn it into the TMC’s Vidyasagar moment,” the leader said.
