Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Feb 19: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took a sharp dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of cultural insensitivity over his reference to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa on the saint’s birth anniversary.

In a post on X, Banerjee expressed shock over what she described as an improper prefix used by the Prime Minister while paying tribute to the 19th-century mystic.

“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 had paid tribute to Ramakrishna Paramahansa on his birth anniversary, using the prefix “Swami” before the saint’s name in his message.

The reference drew criticism from several TMC leaders, including party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who said that in Bengal’s tradition, Ramakrishna Paramahansa is commonly addressed as “Thakur” or “Sri Ramakrishna,” and not as “Swami.”

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a post today on the birth anniversary of Thakur Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev. Generally, the word ‘Swami’ is used in cases related to worship or Gurudeva. In the case of Shri Ramakrishna Dev, it is not used in that synonymous sense. The word ‘Thakur’ is there. In the tradition of Bengal, he is known as Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev,” Ghosh told reporters, urging the Prime Minister to correct the prefix in his tweet.

The controversy comes amid heightened political tensions in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, with the TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party once again trading barbs. The ruling party in the state has repeatedly accused the BJP of being “anti-Bengal,” a charge that resurfaced in the wake of the latest exchange.