Kolkata, Feb 19 (IANS) Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s social media jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on Thursday over the latter’s description of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as “Swami” while paying homage to the iconic Indian mystic on the occasion of “Ramakrishna Jayanti”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had issued a counter statement questioning the ignorance of the Chief Minister.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister issued a social media post on X describing Prime Minister Modi’s description of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as “Swami”, as another attempt by the Prime Minister to aggressively display cultural insensitivity to tall personalities of West Bengal.

Later on Thursday afternoon, BJP’s Information Technology Cell Chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a counter statement on his official X account, questioning the ignorance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the matter.

“We are also shocked at your ignorance! The Prime Minister referred to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Deva, also called Sri Ramakrishna and ‘Thakur’ by his disciples, as Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Ji while paying tribute to the universally respected great seer and saint of India on his birth anniversary,” Malviya said in a social media post on X.

He also added that the use of the prefix “Swami” by Prime Minister Modi was not a reference to the title used by monks of the order of Swami Vivekananda-founded Belur Math, the international headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at Belur in Howrah district of West Bengal.

According to BJP leader Malviya, the fact is that monks of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission dedicate their lives to spreading the message and teachings of their spiritual preceptor, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who is adored worldwide “as the greatest ‘swami’ of all time”.

“There is a larger metaphorical and metaphysical concept of spirituality, known as ‘Advaita Vedanta’, the non-dualism of the individual and God, which is practised and propagated by the Ramakrishna Mission. It forms the core of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s experiential, mystical, and universalist vision. In this context, ‘Swami’ refers to the Great Master, whose kathamrit remains as overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and mind-absorbing today as it was when he walked this world of mere mortals,” the BJP leader added.

Along with his social media post on X, BJP leader Malviya had also attached a video of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent speech, where she is heard referring to “Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa” as “Sri Krishna Paramhamsa””.

In the same speech, the Chief Minister was heard claiming that “Sri Krishna Paramahamsa” was the writer of the Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta.

–IANS

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