MAMATA FEARS THAT I WILL TAKE HINDU VOTES TO BJP

Everyone was surprised when Mamata Banerjee accused Kartik Maharaj, a monk associated with the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, of not allowing Trinamool Congress’s agents to sit in some polling booths during the Lok Sabha elections and of inciting communal violence in Murshidabad.

- NILADRY SARKAR

• KARTIK MAHARAJ, head, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Beldanga branch

Kartik Maharaj, formally Swami Pradiptananda, heads the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s branch in Beldanga in Murshidabad. The socioreligious charitable organisation founded by Acharya Swami Pranavanandaji in 1917 educates disadvantaged children, provides health care services, conducts tribal welfare and rural development programmes, and spreads spiritual awareness.

Pradiptananda joined the Bharat Sevashram Sangha as a teenager. As the chief of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga branch, he runs 12 schools, a hostel for tribal children and a hospital. He has been a flag-bearer of aggressive hindutva in Bengal and has a close relationship with the RSS and the Vishva Hindu Parishad. In an interview, he explains why Mamata attacked him and why he wants Hindus to take up arms. Excerpts:

Q/ Why did Mamata Banerjee suddenly attack you?

A/ It was not sudden. It was calculated. We organised India’s first Lokkho Kanthe Gita Path [one lakh people reading the Gita] in Kolkata and I was the president [of the organising committee]. The response was huge, and more than a lakh people registered. She was against it. We invited her to the event. We invited the prime minister as well.

I also organised two kumbh melas in Nadia district. I have organised several protests as well. One at the Raj Bhavan against [Trinamool leader] Mahua Moitra for insulting our gods and goddesses. Another was against putting the Trinamool flag in the hands of a Durga idol. [BJP leader] Suvendu Adhikari was also present at the protest.