VHP meet says yes to temple, no to bloodshed

bangalore: pontiffs and politicians at the vishwa hindu parishad sponsored public meet in bangalore on sunday, to protest against the recent godhra incident, favoured construction of ram temple in ayodhya sans violence. however, the speakers issued a veiled warning that they would not take it lying down if their resolve to go ahead with the temple construction is thwarted.the rally was organised because bangalore could not participate in the vhp-sponsored nationwide bandh sponsored on march 1 "due to paucity of time." a surprise speaker was union sports minister uma bharti, who favoured construction of the temple through national consensus. "the issue should be resolved peacefully on the lines of how the somanath temple dispute in gujarat was solved," she said. lashing out at the "so-called secular parties like the congress", bharti, who is in bangalore to meet vishwesha theertha swamiji of pejawar math, questioned the congress demand for dismissal of the gujarat government. former prime minister rajiv gandhi did not quit office after the massacre following indira gandhi''s assassination in 1984, she recalled. "in fact, during the riots in which 10,000 sikhs were killed, it was the rss, bjp and vhp combine which protected the innocents. parties like congress which claim to be secular are actually dividing hindus and muslims," she said. vishwesha theertha swamiji said incidents such as the godhra carnage should not deter hindu activists from constructing the ram temple at ayodhya. "we should not lose faith because of such incidents. i appeal to the muslims not to obstruct but allow construction of the temple. such a gesture will help in creating a permanent harmony between hindus and muslims," he maintained. stating that the interests of the muslims would not be affected if the ram temple was built, the seer said such a gesture would be reciprocated by the hindus who would come forward to construct a grand mosque elsewhere. he accused "parties claiming to be secular" of allegedly trying to instigate muslims who, he claimed, were not opposed to the temple. admar math''s vibhudheesha theertha swamiji advocated mutual respect for places of worship. condemning the godhra incident, balagangadharanatha swamiji of the adichunchunagiri math asked hindus to exercise restraint and maintain peace. constructing the ram temple is the main objective to which the government should respond, he said. "about 80 per cent of the work is complete. now, let us wait for the government''s response. we should not respond to the massacre with violence but initiate steps to ensure that the objective is met," he contended. bjp mla suresh kumar took exception to former prime minister h.d. deve gowda and samajwadi party president mulayam singh yadav condemning the gujarat violence but not the godhra massacre. bjp state president basavaraj patil sedam and bjp mlc ramachandra gowda also spoke.