His alleged scuffle with a monk from a prominent ashram has put the heat on West Bengal BJP MP Ananta Maharaj who is now seeing demands for his resignation, rising heat from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his own party distancing himself from the issue.
On Sunday, the Rajya Sabha MP visited the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Seva Ashram in Sitai village of Cooch Behar district for a regular visit and interacted with monks there. An argument allegedly took place while the MP was talking to the Vigyanananda Tirtha Maharaj, the organisation’s president.
Following this, Vigyanananda claimed Maharaj’s aides had assaulted residents of the ashram.
“He not only misbehaved with me, but his aides manhandled some of the residents here and abused me,” Vigyanananda said. Swapan Kumar Patwari, the treasurer of the ashram, went on to file a complaint against the MP and his aides. He also claimed the MP had “physically assaulted” Vigyananda and that he was “under treatment”.
The situation further escalated when Vigyananda’s supporters held protests on Monday to demand the MP’s resignation and blocked roads.
Denying the charges, Maharaj said he had asked Vigyananda “about his name, identity, and educational qualifications” and that he had “refused to answer in anger”.
“After I left, he misled some locals and blocked the path. There was no incident involving my aides mistreating him or anyone at the ashram. These allegations are completely unfounded,” Maharaj said.
The BJP’s Cooch Behar Uttar MLA, Sukumar Ray, said the BJP does not “support any form of attacks or abuse of monks”. Senior TMC leader and North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha condemned the incident and urged the police to take appropriate action.
The BJP seems to be treading carefully on the issue, considering the influence of the ashram in the Cooch Behar district. Sitai, where the incident occurred, will also see a bypoll on November 13 as its TMC MLA Jagadish Chandra Basunia became the Cooch Behar MP in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The ashram, formed 10 years ago, has a lot of goodwill among locals because of its work with schools in the area.
In the 2023 Assembly polls, Basunia had won the seat against the BJP’s Dipak Kumar Roy by a margin of 10,000 votes. The BJP believes it has a strong base here and can clinch the bypoll.
A senior BJP leader said the party will think of a way to prevent the “issue from snowballing further”.
Looking to utilise the issue, North Bengal Development Minister and TMC leader Udayan Guha went to the ashram on Monday to “assure the monks of help”. He also announced an 800-metre-long road near the ashram.
Why Anant Maharaj is important to the BJP
Anant Roy alias Anant Maharaj has been making the demand for a Greater Cooch Behar to be made a Union Territory for years now. He is from the influential Rajbanshi community, who as per the 2011 Census are the single largest Scheduled Caste (SC) group in West Bengal, comprising over 18% of the state’s 21.4 million from the community. Keeping in mind the Rajbanshi vote, the BJP in 2023 picked Ananta Maharaj as their Rajya Sabha face from Bengal.
The TMC, too, has been enthusiastically wooing the Rajbanshis. In 2017, the state government created a Rajbanshi Development Board with Banshibadan Barman as its Chairman.
The recent issue might put some heat on Maharaj, but he still remains an important leader in the region. Hence, the BJP’s measured response.