The portrait of Sarada Ma (fifth from right) on the Bengal stall at the Delhi fair. Picture by Prem Singh

Nov. 15: A portrait of Sarada Ma is among a panoply of mascots emblazoned atop the Bengal trade fair stall in Delhi, the pavilion becoming a modern-day pantheon built by Marxists honouring the Holy Mother.

The official reason for featuring Sarada Ma, Ramakrishna Paramhansa’s wife, is that she was a symbol of women’s empowerment, the theme of this year’s trade fair on Pragati Maidan.

But old-timers in Bengal see in the inclusion the final burial of a hatchet the CPM has been wrestling with for decades and the signs of a “secular brand of Hindutva” . It also marks a milestone in the relationship between Alimuddin Street and Belur Math — the two legs on which Bengal society rests.

The CPM, particularly when Pramode Dasgupta was the state party secretary from the sixties to the early eighties, has never had an easy relationship with the Ramakrishna Mission, though it is well known that Jyoti Basu respected the work of the Mission.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is said to have a high regard for the Mission’s contribution to education, played an instrumental role in getting cleared the proposal to include Sarada Ma among the icons on the façade of the pavilion. The Left Front government has also chosen to refer to Sarada Ma as “Holy Mother”.

“The chief minister has personally chosen the women who adorn the facade. The presence of the women’s portraits has helped the pavilion stand out from others,” said Sudeep Das, manager (PR), West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). Other sources said the proposal was endorsed by industries minister Nirupam Sen, too.

The other women featured atop the pavilion at the fair, which began on Friday and will continue till November 27, include Annie Besant , Sarojini Naidu, Rani Rashmoni, Sucheta Kriplani and Sister Nivedita.

But the standout inclusion is that of Sarada Ma, considering Dasgupta had rammed through education “reforms” that meant Mission school students would be taught not by swamis but by government nominees. Basu was not happy with the intervention but was helpless then, recalled a CPM state committee member.

“Possibly at Basu’s behest, Snehangshu Acharyya, the then advocate-general, suggested a novel legal option,” the CPM state committee member said.

Accordingly, the Mission filed an affidavit in Calcutta High Court in 1980, claiming that it was not a Hindu organisation but one that deserved religious minority status. Such a tag would have protected the Mission schools and colleges from government interference.

A division bench of the court upheld the plea but the Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that the Mission’s schools or colleges were not religious institutions.

The case, however, helped the Ramakrishna Mission buy valuable time. In between, Dasgupta had died and Basu had become the real boss. Sources at Writers’ Buildings said Basu soft-pedalled teachers’ appointments and ensured greater freedom to the Mission in recruitment.

“There was a controversy in the early nineties whether the Mission should be given more freedom than other state-aided schools on teacher recruitment. Jyotibabu prevailed and said the Mission shouldn’t face government red tape,” one of the sources added.

After the School Service Commission (SSC) Act was framed in 1997, Basu’s and later Bhattacharjee’s government ensured that the Mission had the final word on recruitment after scanning candidates who cleared the SSC examination.

“It was decided that the SSC would send the names of successful candidates to the Mission and the latter would select from them,” an education department official said.

Basu also funded the reconstruction of Swami Vivekananda’s ancestral home at a time the state coffers were running dry, a CPM veteran said.

On the other hand, although the Planning Commission cannot directly fund a private body, the present chief minister had arranged for funds for the Mission from the central agency via the state government, sources in the state secretariat said.

“When Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee was the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, we asked him how the Mission could be helped financially. He came up with a formula and accordingly, we did manage to route commission funds through the state government to the Mission. However, I don’t remember the amount that was given. As for Vivekananda’s ancestral house, the government had given all help and Jyotibabu was keen to see the reconstruction work completed at the earliest,” urban development minister Asok Bhattacharyya told The Telegraph.

Some view the chain of events as the CPM’s “discovery of secular Hindutva”. According to a CPM central committee member, Basu saw in the Mission an answer to the militant brand of Hindutva associated with organisations such as the RSS.

“After 1984, the BJP was gradually gaining ground and that found a reflection in the party’s huge increase in parliamentary seats in the 1989 elections. Jyotibabu and the CPM leadership realised that only the Mission’s teachings and philosophy would be able to negate narrow Hindu fundamentalism. That’s why he felt the need to uphold and strengthen the Mission,” the CPM leader said. “It suited our party, post-Babri, as Vivekananda was a champion of secularism.”

If the presence of Sarada Ma at the Bengal pavilion tells the tale of reconciliation, an absence at another slot paints a grim picture of contemporary Bengal.

On a circular platform originally reserved for the Nano, now gone to Gujarat, are some motorcycles. “The Nano at this slot was to have been a prime attraction,” said Sudeep Das.