Kolkata. Sanyasis took out a rally in Kolkata on Friday to protest against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s alleged remarks against some sadhus of Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangh. Named ‘Sant Swabhiman Yatra’, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) along with members of Bangiya Sanyasi Samaj, the apex body of saints in the state, took out a rally from Bagbazar in North Kolkata to ‘Shimla Street’, the ancestral residence of Swami Vivekananda.
A protesting monk said, “We condemn the comments of the honorable chief minister against us. We are saddened and feel insulted by the derogatory comments. She is not following Raj Dharma.” Senior VHP leader Saurish Mukherjee said, “Due to vote bank politics, the chief minister is making such comments against prestigious institutions like Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangh.” In a recent election rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the TMC chief of threatening monks for vote bank politics.
Modi’s remarks came a day after miscreants vandalised the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) campus in Jalpaiguri and threatened monks and other staff at gunpoint. Banerjee defended her stance, saying she had only criticised certain individuals from the monastery and not the institutions.