Ideas of Bengal icons elude BJP, ironical party evokes their vision: TMC

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress party (TMC) on Monday said the BJP's attempts to evoke Bengal's icons, such as Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, for political gains are 'ironical' in nature, as ideals of these luminaries do not match with the saffron party's vision and objectives.

Speaking to reporters here, on the eve of Swami Vivekananda's birthday, senior TMC leader Bratya Basu recalled that Sri Ramakrishna had once said 'jato mat, tato path', which means multiple views lead to multiple avenues—in short, pluralism—"something that the saffron camp does not subscribe to".

"The BJP talking about them is nothing short of an irony as the party does not believe in Ramakrishna's way of thinking. Even Swami Vivekananda had said 'those who love humanity serve the God'," Basu, also a state minister, said On the contrary, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has paid tribute to these eminent personalities by restoring their residences, and also made arrangements to honour them on occasions, the minister stated. To commemorate the birth anniversary of Swamiji on January 12, two-day Vivek Chetana utsav is

being held across the state from January.

"The state government had acquired the house of Sister Nivedita on Bosepara Lane and handed it over to the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. The house, in which she died in Darjeeling, was taken over and handed over to the Ramakrishna Mission. A scholarship and two private universities have been named after Swamiji and Sister Nivedita. Sampriti Divas is held on September 11 to commemorate Swamiji's famous speech at Chicago. Mayer Bari in Bagbazar has been renovated at Rs 30 crore," he said.

The CM, however, was thwarted from delivering speeches at Oxford Union and Chicago, "for reasons which are not known to us", he said. The Oxford Union had in December 2020 postponed Banerjee's virtual address at the eleventh hour, citing unforeseen circumstances.

The TMC leadership, infuriated over the development, had claimed that 'political pressure' might have forced the organisers to take such a call.

In 2018, the feisty TMC supremo's scheduled programme at Chicago on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary was also cancelled. The minister claimed that the BJP was using the names of the luminaries to get votes and at the same time giving a volley of misinformation about them.

He reiterated how the BJP leaders were spreading misinformation by saying that Rabindranath was born in Bolpur and Sri Chaitanya in Kalna.