Mamata Banerjee slams PM Modi over 'Swami' prefix for Ramakrishna Paramahansa

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his message on the birth anniversary of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, taking offence at the use of the prefix “Swami” for the 19^th-century spiritual leader.

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

She was referring to Modi’s message in Hindi on X, which said, “Tribute to Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa on his birth anniversary. As he established spirituality and sadhana as life force, he will continue to benefit humanity in every age. His thoughts and messages will always be an inspiration.”


Reacting to the post, Banerjee 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”!’

The CM added, “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.”