West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for adding an “unprecedented and improper prefix” to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s name while paying tributes on his birth anniversary.

Mamata accused Modi of “aggressively displaying his cultural insensitivity to great figures of Bengal.”

“Yet again, our Prime Minister aggressively displays his cultural insensitivity to 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’!” Mamata wrote on X.

The Bengal chief minister advised Modi not to use new 'prefixes' and 'suffixes' before the names of Bengali scholars.

“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,” she added.

She further said, "I urge the Prime Minister kindly not to discover new prefixes and suffixes for the great Renaissance figures of Bengal who shaped modern India".

Earlier in the day, PM Modi paid tributes to Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa on his birth anniversary and said his noble thoughts will forever remain a source of inspiration.

“Humble tributes to Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa on his birth anniversary. The way he established spirituality and meditation as a vital life force will continue to benefit humanity in every era.

His noble thoughts and messages will forever remain a source of inspiration,” Modi wrote on X in Hindi.

Last year, participating in a discussion in Lok Sabha on 150 years of Vande Mataram, Modi referred to the writer of the national song Vande Mataram as “Bankim da”.

After the intervention of TMC MP Sougata Roy, Modi switched to ‘Bankim Babu’ but Mamata said referring to the cultural icon as 'Bankim da' was disrespectful.