Mohan Bhagwat temple remarks irk Bihar parties

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks expressing desire to build the “Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in his lifetime” set the political temperature rising in Bihar, even as he reiterated his stand on Thursday.

Speaking at a function in Ayodhya, Mr Bhagwat called upon the people to honour Lord Ram by building the temple at Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya. He said Lord Ram was a symbol of India’s culture. “The essence of India’s culture is unity in diversity. It accepts all and walks along taking everybody together. That is our identity and Lord Ram is the symbol of that culture, that identity,” he added.

He said that to honour that culture was his aim. “It is not the question of just the temple at his birthplace, but his birthplace is the symbol of our intrinsic moral values,” he said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and other allies of the Grand Secular Alliance slammed the RSS and the BJP for “raking up the issue to gain politically”.

Mounting a blistering attack on Mr Bhagwat and BJP leaders, Mr Kumar said: “The BJP and the RSS keep raking up the issue as they want to keep it alive, they use Ram’s name only for their political gains but the fact is that they have no religious faith in him.”

“Their slogan should be, ‘Mandir wahin banayengey magar tarikh nahi batayengey (we will build temple there but we will not reveal dates),” he added.

According to the Grand Alliance leaders, “Bhagwat’s statement in Kolkata indicates what they want. They failed in Bihar and now by using the temple issue they are trying to gain in West Bengal and we are sure they will try the same stunt in Uttar Pradesh as well.”

In Ayodhya, referring to the attack on the World Trade Centre, Mr Bhagwat said, “It is the core values of a country that always comes under attack. When the terrorists wanted to teach the US a lesson, they did not attack any church; they blew away the World Trade Centre, because America’s essence is trade.” He said that temples in India are attacked because they are the core value, the essence of the country. He said that a grand temple needs to be built and when and how that opportunity comes no one knows but we have to be prepared for that. He added that the aim of this was not to oppose anyone.