Monks to take out rally in Kolkata to protest Mamata Banerjee's remarks

Mamata Banerjee. Pic/AFP

Monks of West Bengal have decided to bring out a rally in Kolkata on May 24 in protest against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks against some monks of Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevasharam Sangha.

The 'Sant Swabhiman Yatra' will be organised in north Kolkata by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and members of the Bangiya Sanyasi Samaj, an apex body of monks in West Bengal.

The participants of the rally will also condemn the attack on a Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Jalpaiguri on Sunday. "The CM is making such remarks due to vote bank politics. We strongly condemn it. Monks of West Bengal will hold a protest rally against the comments," VHP leader Sourish Mukherjee said.

Banerjee had stated that certain monks of influential monastic orders in West Bengal were working on the instructions of the BJP in the elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the remarks, accusing the TMC of threatening monks for vote bank politics.

Banerjee defended her statement, saying she was criticising certain individuals and not the institutions. Unidentified persons also stormed the premises of Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) in Jalpaiguri and threatened monks and other employees at gunpoint.

An RKM official, however, suggested that local land mafia was behind the incident, which was reportedly a matter of property dispute. The monks lodged a complaint at Bhaktinagar police station against a local tough and his associates.

Taking a strong view of the BJP's charges that the TMC was involved in vandalisation of properties of Ramakrishna Mission in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the saffron camp of falsely implicating her party over an incident triggered by property dispute.

Addressing an election rally in support of TMC candidate from Barasat Lok Sabha seat Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Banerjee said she had always been supportive of the RKM and other socio-religious organisations.

The chief minister said she renovated the residence of Sister Nivedita in Kolkata and the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda.

"I don't discriminate among religions. I work for renovating places of worship of all religions," she said.

Banerjee also said, "I may go for defamation for maligning me and TMC by spreading misinformation against our party. If anything happens in the state, the report comes to me as the head of administration. I did not get any such update. We have great respect for religious organisations like RKM and others."

(With inputs from PTI)