Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the prefix “Swami” in a social media post while paying tribute to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa on his birth anniversary, alleging “cultural insensitivity” towards Bengal’s revered spiritual figures.

In a post on X, Banerjee said Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is traditionally and widely known as “Thakur”, and not “Swami”.

“Shocked again! Yet again, our Prime Minister aggressively displays his cultural insensitivity to great figures of Bengal. Today is the janmatithi of Yugavatara 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’,” she wrote.

Earlier in the day, Modi paid tribute to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, saying his noble thoughts and messages would remain a source of inspiration for humanity. In his post, the Prime Minister referred to him as “Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa”, praising his emphasis on spirituality and meditation as a vital life force.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born in 1836, served as a priest at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple and is renowned for his teachings on the harmony of religions.

Banerjee, however, asserted that while monks of the Ramakrishna Order are addressed as “Swami”, the Master himself continued to be revered as “Thakur”.

“As is well known, Sri Ramakrishna was widely revered as Thakur. 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 himself continued to be referred to as Thakur,” she said.

She further explained that the spiritual lineage of the Ramakrishna Order is traditionally described as “Thakur–Ma–Swamiji”, with Thakur referring to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ma to Sarada Devi, and Swamiji to Swami Vivekananda.

Urging restraint, Banerjee appealed to the Prime Minister “not to discover new prefixes and suffixes” for Bengal’s Renaissance figures who played a key role in shaping modern India.

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She also recalled a similar instance last year when she objected to Modi referring to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankim da” during a Lok Sabha discussion, after which the Prime Minister had accepted the sentiment and corrected himself.