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Bengal’s Padma awardee Hindu monk came to limelight amid Modi-Mamata tussle

Jan 26, 2025 08:57 PM IST

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in May 2024 accused Kartick Maharaj of helping the BJP in the then ongoing Lok Sabha polls and drew flak from Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Kolkata: Of the nine Padma Shri awardees from West Bengal, Kartick Maharaj, a Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk from Murshidabad district, was virtually an unknown figure till May 2024 when chief minister Mamata Banerjee publicly accused him of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party in the then ongoing Lok Sabha polls and drew flak from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kartick Maharaj. (File Photo)
Kartick Maharaj. (File Photo)

The monk, whose ascetic name is Swami Pradiptananda, sent a legal notice to Banerjee seeking an unconditional apology but she stuck to her allegations.

The sequence of events started on May 18, 2024, when Banerjee, while addressing voters in Hooghly district, alleged that a section of monks from the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, ISKCON and Ramakrishna Mission were asking voters to support BJP. She specifically named Kartick Maharaj, surprising not only citizens but her political adversaries as well.

“I have great respect for monks but not all of them are same. Bharat Sevashram Sangha has a unit in Berhampore (a Lok Sabha seat). I have heard about a Maharaj (monk) for a long time. His name is Kartick Maharaj. He said he will not allow any TMC election agent in polling booths. I do not consider him a monk because he is directly involved in politics. He is ruining the country. I have great respect for Bharat Sevashram Sangha,” Banerjee said at the May 18 rally.

The then state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had won the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat five times since 1999, backed Banerjee’s allegation.

Murshidabad district has West Bengal’s highest Muslim population of 66.28 % according to the 2011 census.

Addressing the media, Chowdhury said: “I have heard about this monk on several occasions. He works for political parties and hence cannot be called a monk. Banerjee, however, has no right to judge people because she does not follow secular politics.”

On May 20, Swami Pradiptanada sent a legal notice to Banerjee through a Calcutta high court lawyer.

“I therefore call upon you to forthwith address the press and issue an unconditional apology and retract your virulent and malafide statement within 48 hours from receipt of the instant notice and cease and desist from making further similar statements against my client defaming and maligning my client,” said the notice, a copy of which was seen by HT.

Banerjee stuck to her allegations but clarified that she had deep respect for all three Hindu organisations.

At a poll rally in Bankura district on May 20, she said: “Why should I be against an institution? Why should I insult anyone? I never do it. I am talking of some individuals. I talked of Kartick Maharaj. He did not let TMC put election agents in booths. He planned a riot at Rejinagar in Murshidabad two days before the polls. This is the reason I took his name. I will continue to do this.”

“I have all the information. He instigated some local traders. You (the monk) visit many areas and work for BJP. Go ahead and do it but put the BJP’s symbol on your chest. Why do it stealthily? I don’t say anything without having evidence,” Banerjee added, escalating the row.

Prime Minister Modi, who was on a two-day election tour of Bengal, targeted the TMC chief from a rally in Jhargram district on May 20.

“Ramakrishna Mission, ISKCON and Bharat Sevashram Sangha are Bengal’s spiritual identity. The chief minister is threatening these organisations in public. This has encouraged the TMC’s goons,” Modi said, referring to an alleged vandalism at an RKM ashram in Jalpaiguri district the night before.

“TMC has crossed all limits to satisfy its vote bank. Bengal will not tolerate the insult of monks,” Modi said at the rally.

Drawn into a political tussle, RKM - a spiritual and social welfare organisation founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 and named after his spiritual guru Ramakrishna Paramahansha - did not comment on the debate.

Bharat Sevashram Sangha, a Hindu religious and social welfare organisation founded in 1917 by Swami Pranavananda Maharaj, did not officially make any statement on Kartick Maharaj.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lost the Berhampore seat to TMC’s Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Kartick Maharaj did not make any statement before the media after his name appeared in the list of Padma Sri awardees.

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