As temple issue takes centrestage, VHP wants one in every village

January 11, 2016

Lucknow, Jan 11: With Ayodhya Ram Temple issue bouncing back to the centre stage of Uttar Pradesh politics ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls, VHP has decided to construct temples in every village across the country.

vhp"The organisation has decided to set up a temple of Lord Ram in every village," spokesman of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sharad Sharma said today.

He said from April 15 -- Ram Navami -- the organiation would start a seven-day-long Ram Mahotsava.

"During this period Lord Ram will be worshipped in every village," he told PTI.

Sharma said the target is to reach 1.25 lakh villages.

"We had been observing Ram Mahotsava in the past and the organisation has already reached 70,000-75,000 villages pan India," he said.

Sharma said that during Ram Mahotsava, statues of Lord Ram would be worshipped.

"Whether it is a statue or picture it will be installed at a place after worship," he said.

The Ayodhya Ram temple issue is pending before the Supreme Court but it is again in focus in UP politics ahead of Assembly elections next year.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy recently exuded confidence that work on the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya would start before the year-end.

He, however, made it clear that the temple would not come up through a movement but only after the court verdict, which he hoped would come by August-September, and with the mutual consent of Muslim and Hindu communities.

Asked if raising the Ram temple issue was linked to Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in early 2017, he said, "Ram should not be linked with elections. Ram is a matter of faith for Hindus and construction of the temple at Ayodhya is a commitment of every Hindu."

"It's a matter of faith for crores of Hindus in the country and we want to realise the dream of our patron late Ashok Singhal," Sharma said when asked about Swamy's comment.

Singhal had died on November 17 at the age of 89.

Ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has said that no temple would be allowed to be built at the disputed site in Ayodhya without the court's permission.

Senior SP leader and minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said not a single brick would be allowed to move without the court's nod.

In December last year two trucks of stones arrived in the temple city almost six months after VHP announced its nationwide drive to collect stones for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"Two trucks of stones have been unloaded at Ram Sewak Puram, a VHP property in Ayodhya, and ‘Shila Pujan’ (praying of the stones) has been performed by Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the president of Ram Janam Bhumi Nyas," Sharma said.

"Now, the time has come for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Lot of stones have arrived in Ayodhya. And now the arrival of stones will continue. We have signals from Modi government that Mandir construction would be done now," Das had claimed.

Asserting its resolve to build the Ram temple, the VHP had in June last year announced a nationwide drive to collect stones for construction of the temple and had also asked the Muslim community not to pose any hindrance.

Comments

Rahi
 - 
Monday, 11 Jan 2016

Obviously they remember Hindu now since UP and WB election next year. They start working in WB by communal riots and for UP is temple issue.
Poor Hindu brothers are scapegoat of BJP's political career.

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News Network
June 11,2020

Washington, Jun 11: Observing that historically India has been a tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said the US is "very concerned" about what is happening in India over religious freedom.

The comments by Samuel Brownback, Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the "2019 International Religious Freedom Report" on Wednesday.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," Mr Brownback said during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday.

The trend lines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Mr Brownback said. "We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a - I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well," he said.

"It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in violence and increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat.

Responding to a question, Mr Brownback said he hoped minority faiths are not blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to healthcare amid the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. "COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.

The government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion".

"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities… We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Foreign Ministry said in June last year.

According to the Home Ministry, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017, in which more than 1,100 people were killed.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Bhopal, Mar 4: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister  Kamal Nath on Tuesday asserted that there was no threat to his government.

Nath's comments came when he was asked about reports of alleged 'poaching' attempts being made by the opposition BJP in the state.

“The legislators are telling me that they are being offered so much money. I am telling the MLAs to take it, if they are getting this free money,” Nath told reporters here on the sidelines of a programme.

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Monday alleged that his party MLAs were being offered “huge money by BJP leaders” as part of the saffron party's “poaching” attempt to destablise the Kamal Nath government.

When Nath was asked about any threat to the stability of his government in Madhya Pradesh, he said, “There is nothing to worry about.”

Reacting to Nath's statement, state BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal told PTI that his party has nothing to do with the allegations.

“In fact, these speculations and allegations are part of the internal bickering of among Congress leaders to get nominated for the Rajya Sabha polls,” he said.

After Digvijaya Singh's remarks on Monday, senior BJP leader and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Congress veteran of making false statements to create sensationalism.

“Speaking lies to create sensationalism is Digvijaya's habit. Probably some of his (Digivijaya's) works were not done and he wants to create pressure on the CM to get them done,” Chouhan alleged.

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News Network
June 8,2020

New Delhi, June 8: Only 20.26 lakh migrant workers of the targeted 8 crore such labourers have received free food grains in May and June (2020), according to data released by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

In the middle of May, as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore Atma Nirbhar Bharat package, the Modi government had announced that migrant labourers who are not covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) or any state-run PDS scheme, will receive free food grains for two months.

"Non-card holders shall be given 5 kg wheat or rice per person and 1 kg chana per family per month for the next 2 months. About 8 crore migrants will benefit from this scheme that will cost the government Rs 3500 crore,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said at a press conference following PM Modi’s announcement.

But the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said on Sunday, "The states and UTs have lifted 4.42 LMT (lakh metric tonne) of food grains and distributed 10,131 MT of it to 20.26 lakh beneficiaries."

It added, "The Government of India also approved 39,000 MT pulses for 1.96 crore migrant families. Around 28,306 MT gram/dal have been dispatched to the states and UTs. A total 15,413 MT gram have been lifted by various states and UTs". The state governments, the ministry added, had distributed only 631MT (metric tonnes) of gram so far.

Because of the constant movement of migrant workers, the Centre had said that the states will be responsible for identifying the migrants and subsequent food distribution.

The Centre claims it is spending approximately Rs 3,109 crore for food grains and Rs 280 crores for grams/chana under this package.

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