Attacking the BJP over a seminar in Delhi University by party leader Subramanian Swamy on the Ram temple issue, the Aam Aadmi Party said the saffron party should not use varsities to spread communalism and alleged that the move was aimed at the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Terming it a “sensitive issue”, senior AAP leader Ashutosh said the case is pending before the Supreme Court and the decision on it should be the judiciary’s, and not from outside.
The two-day seminar titled “Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Temple: Emerging Scenario” has been organised at DU’s Arts Faculty by Arundhati Vashishtha Anusandhan Peeth (AVAP), a research organisation founded by the late VHP leader Ashok Singhal.
Amid protests outside Delhi University, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday went ahead with the seminar on the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya where he asserted that nothing would be done forcibly or against the law. “We are not opposed to the move of a discussion on a Ram mandir in DU as we believe that universities should be a place for healthy discussions of various issues. Our problem is using the seminar for communalising the atmosphere,” Ashutosh said.
“There were riots in Muzaffarnagar before the Lok Sabha polls. Then there were communal riots in Delhi before the state polls. Ahead of the Bihar polls, Dadri (where rumours of beef consumption led to the killing of a man) was exploited. And before the Uttar Pradesh polls you (BJP) have brought up the Ram mandir issue again,” he said.
“...We want politics over roti, kapda aur makaan, and not religion,” Ashutosh said.AAP Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey also questioned the move to rent out the venue for the seminar as the varsity in the past had denied permission to the party to carry out party-related programmes on its premises.
He said the CYSS, the party’s student wing, is also agitating against the seminar on the campus. He said the BJP has not learnt from its mistakes and is “hell-bent” on repeating them despite being drubbed in Delhi and Bihar.
