KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the word 'Swami' as a prefix in a social media post on Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's birth anniversary, alleging that the PM displayed "cultural insensitivity to great figures" of the state.
A few months ago, the Prime Minister faced strong criticism from Trinamool Congress after he referred to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who penned the national song, as “Bankim da”, while he was delivering a speech on Vande Mataram in the Parliament on 8 December last year.
The Bengal CM today said Modi used the prefix 'Swami' in the message while Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is widely known as 'Thakur', Mamata said on X post. "Shocked again! Yet again, our Prime Minister aggressively displays his cultural insensitivity to the 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”!,” she wrote.
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”!
“As is well known, 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. I urge the Prime Minister kindly not to discover new prefixes and suffixes for the great Renaissance figures of Bengal who shaped modern India,” she wrote.
Trinamool Congress MPs tore into Modi’s speech on ‘Vande Mataram’, which, the Bengal ruling party leaders said, was “disrespectful to the literary icon” and “culturally insensitive”.
The Modi government, according to TMC leaders, held a discussion on ‘Vande Mataram’ in the hopes of reaping some dividends for the BJP ahead of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections.