Grand Kumbh won't soften temple demand: Seers

ALLAHABAD: If the BJP government had hoped to divert attention from the Ram Temple issue by hosting the Kumbh on a massive scale this year, seers collecting in Allahabad for the mega event say they have no plans of allowing that to happen.


Several hoardings demanding the construction of the Ram temple have sprung up across Kumbh tent city while the VHP has announced it will hold a dharam sansad on January 31 and February 1 to demand temple construction.

The massive hoardings, put up by Swami Narendracharyaji Maharaj of Ramanandcharya Dakshin Peeth in Maharashtra, carry a clear missive for BJP: Construct the Ram temple.

" Yeshu Allah kar rahe Vatican Mecca par raj, Hinduon ka Ram phir beghar kyon hai aaj" says a hoarding.

Another says, " Tulsi tere desh mein Ram kachahari jaye, sarkaron ke beech mein mandir gota khaye", referring to the court case.

" Badh aage tirpal hatao, vanshaj hone ka dharma nibhao" and " Agar abhi Ram mandir na bana paoge, aane wali peedhe ko kya moonh dikhaoge" are the messages on the other hoardings, all of which have the seer's picture on it on one side and Ram's on the other.

Many seers believe that by projecting Ardhkumbh as Mahakumbh, the government is trying to deflect attention from its failure to construct the temple.

Dandi Swami Brahmashram, the national general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Dandi Sanyasi Prabandhak Samiti, said that if BJP was unable to come up with a solution for the Ram temple, it need not contest elections this year.

Manoj Kumar and Chatur Bhaiyacharya of Shree Dham Math in Ramkot, Ayodhya, said that development aside, the BJP government has to fulfil the three promises on the basis of which it came to power: the construction of Ram temple, repealing article 370 and cow protection.

"All of us want the temple. In the VHP dharam sabha during Kumbh, we will all raise our voice. The government will gain nothing by politicising the Kumbh," they said.

Swami Geetanand Saraswati from Haridwar said the BJP was helpless in bringing about an ordinance, lacking numbers in the Rajya Sabha.

Arvind Swami, the national spokesperson of Dandi Swami Samaj, was one of the few who said that seers needed to show patience.

"Hum sant hein, badmaash nahin (We are seers, not rogues)," he said, adding that the government was working towards softening the stand of both Hindu and Muslim extremists and the resolution would take time.