A glimpse of Sant convention: ‘Modi is avatar of Ram; courts are anti-temple; no more dialogue’

Newsroom, Nov 4: As part of Sangh Parivar’s preparation for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a two-day convention of Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti has dropped hints of an undemocratic agitation in the name of Ram Mandir. The convention was held on Saturday and Sunday in the national capital days after the RSS said the government should acquire land and hand it over for construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya.

While one of the speakers called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “an incarnation of Lord Ram”, another said the judiciary won’t be of help as it was full of “anti-temple people”.

Swami Chinmayananda, who was a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said “the possibility of any peace talk or dialogue with the opposite parties has ended”.

Jain muni Guptisagar, from Haryana, said, “Jo Ram ka nahin woh mere kisi kaam ka nahin (The one who doesn’t care for Ram is of no use to me).” Mentioning the PM directly, he said, “Modiji sansad mein sachcha parvan chahiye, 56-inch seene walon ka samvidhan chahiye (Modiji, we need a truthful testimony in Parliament, a sign of resolve from those with 56-inch chests).”

Guptisagar added that the judiciary would not allow a temple because anti-temple people were sitting there for the past 70 years.

Swami Pragyanand of Uttarakhand urged that Ram temple in Ayodhya be built on the lines of Gujarat’s Somnath temple. “We should here today force a commitment from the Modi government to ensure that a Ram temple is built at Ram Janmabhoomi.”

Swami Vivekanandji Maharaj said there couldn’t be a more ideal situation to ensure this than having “Ram bhakt Narendra Modi” as the PM and another “Ram bhakt”, Yogi Adityanath, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. “I feel that in devotion, Modiji is the incarnation of Lord Ram. If Ram temples are not built in his regime, it would be surprising.”

Swami Jitendranand Saraswati, who came from Vrindavan and is the national general secretary of the All India Sant Samiti, said if Muslims continued to have Sharia courts, the Sant Samiti would introduce “kesariya (saffron)” courts, adding that it was “not the responsibility of Hindus alone to follow the Constitution”. Saraswati added that they were right to ask the judge who gave the order on the temple about his priorities as “he was serving as a judge on salary is given from public money”.

Swami Chinmayanand said “the historic mandate” that the BJP had got in 2014 “should not go in vain”, and that if no decision was taken on Ram temple, it would create a crisis in society’s faith in the RSS and BJP.