M A I N   N E W S

BJP losing track of principles: Acharya
Ayodhya saints to meet today

Ayodhya, March 21
The VHP Vice-President, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, today alleged that the BJP had lost track of its original principles after becoming part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Addressing a press conference after the end of a two-day managing committee meeting of the VHP here, Acharya Giriraj Kishore said,” His outfit would support only that party which has the interests of Hindus uppermost in its mind. The BJP used to be one such party but it has, of late, come under the vicious grip of the NDA”.

Expressing satisfaction over the peaceful conduct of the ‘shila daan’ programme, he said, “The successful passage of the event even under adverse circumstances reflects that the Ram temple movement has gone one step ahead towards victory.”

He lambasted those describing the programme as a failure saying that for the first time in history, even the Union Budget took a back seat before the limelight the programme received in the media.

The VHP leader said, “It was felt that a government concerned about Hindu interests should essentially be brought to power to tackle the pseudo-secularism on a rise in the country”.

Though Acharya Giriraj Kishore did not divulge much about the decisions taken at the meeting, he indicated that several crucial decisions related to the temple movement could be taken in the near future.

He said a three-member committee of the VHP was being sent to Orissa to enquire into the incident of attack on the state Assembly.

Acharya Giriraj Kishore also said that an elaborate plan was being prepared to carry out a “Hindu dharma jaagran programme” across the country to rouse the Hindus towards their interests.

Meanwhile, the Mahant of Bara Sthan, where the two ‘shilas’ have been kept after the last Friday’s ‘shila daan’, has warned of a hunger strike if the carved stones were not removed at the earliest.

Mahant Devendra Prasada-charya said, “A meeting of Ayodhya’s saints have been called by him tomorrow at 5 p.m. to decide the future course of action if the shilas were not removed”. In reply to a question he said if the saints decided on “throwing the shilas out of Bara Sthan, he would not hesitate to comply with such a request”.

A dispute has been brewing among the saints and sadhus here on the keeping the shilas at Bara Sthan, after being donated to Mr Shatrughan Singh, in charge of the Ayodhya cell in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on March 15.

The two shilas had been kept at Bara Sthan or Dashrath Mahal here after Mr Shatrughan Singh accepted these from Paramhans Ramchandra Das during the VHP-sponsored ‘shila daan’ programme.

A certain section of the saints and sadhus are opposed to keeping the carved stones at Bara Sthan and had handed over a memorandum to the district magistrate to remove these immediately.

Shankaracharya Swami Nischalanand Saraswati addresses newspersons in Lucknow on Thursday.  — PTI photo