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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
PTI

Amid raging controversy, Bengal monks say neither do they indulge in politics nor do they ask people to vote for any party

Mamata Banerjee Bharatiya Janata Party Ramakrishna Mission TMC

Amid a raging controversy over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing some monks of two prominent monastic orders of working in favour of the BJP in the elections, the religious bodies on May 19 claimed that they have always stayed away from politics and never sought votes for candidates of any party.

Ms. Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, had in an election rally on May 18 alleged that some monks of two prominent monastic orders in West Bengal were working "under instructions of the BJP".

Ms. Banerjee had alleged that some monks of Ramakrishna Mission had asked devotees in Asansol to vote in favour of BJP, while a monk of Bharat Sevashram Sangha had forbidden a TMC agent to sit at a polling station in Baharampur.

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