?Dividing Saints into Dalit or Savarna will only weaken the Society?: Champat Rai

New Delhi: “All saints are revered. Dividing them into Dalit or Swaran will only weaken the society. We never create any such division among the saints,” said Shri Champat Rai, General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, while talking to Organiser on phone. It is to be noted that some people, including the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, recently raised the issue of not inviting Dalit saints to the commencement of Shri Ram Temple ceremony in Ayodhya on August 5, 2020. Without naming anyone, Shri Champat Rai said: “Once a person is initiated into the Sanyasi tradition, he is above all social divisions. He is as revered as any other saint. It is not Bharatiya tradition to categorise saints into Dalit and Swaran. Those who believe in such divisions are basically weakening the society. We have invited all the revered saints for the ceremony on August 5 and they will come.”

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) general secretary Shri Milind Parande on July 30 said that Shri Ram spread the message of social harmony and empowerment through his own actions. “The water and soil being carried to Ayodhya from thousands of holy rivers and pilgrimage centres and shrines across the country to be part of the reconstruction commencement ceremony of the Temple will showcase the togetherness of the whole of Bharat and stand to enthuse, motivate and orient the people to always uphold and celebrate uncompromising cultural nationalism, integral humanism, national unity, territorial integrity of the nation,” he said.

Talking to media persons in Nagpur Shri Parande said the emancipation of Ahilya by Shri Ram, high esteem shown to Shabari Mata and amity with Nishadraj are outstanding illustrations of social harmony. The foundation stone of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple was laid in 1989 in the presence of many revered saints by the lotus-hands of a Scheduled Caste young man Shri Kameshwar Chaupal, who is now a valued Trustee of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.

He pointed out that with great pomp, ceremony and joy, sacred soil from thousands of holy pilgrimage centres and waters of holy rivers are being sent from all over the country for the reconstruction commencement ceremony at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi. Whether it is from Nagpur, the birthplace of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or from the birthplace of Sant Ravidasji in Kashi, Maharshi Valmiki Ashram at Sitamarhi (Bihar), Kachargad in Gondia District of Vidarbha (Maharashtra), Ramrekhadham of Jharkhand, Tantya Bheel’s holy place in Madhya Pradesh, Shri Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, Mahu, the birthplace of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Jain Lal Mandir in Delhi or the Valmiki Temple in Delhi, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for 72 days – these are only a few examples.

The VHP secretary general called upon all the Ram Bhaktas to sit collectively, as far as possible, from 10.30 a.m. on August 5, 2020 in their respective homes, establishments, Ashrams, temples, etc., to offer worship-Bhajan-Keertan-Smaran-flowers-Aarti to their respective adored deities/divinities and distribute Prasad. They should make all possible arrangements to show live the Ayodhya programme to the society; decorate houses, neighbourhoods, villages, markets, monasteries, Gurudwaras, Ashrams, etc., and light lamps in the evening; Pledge to donate for the temple, as much as possible, for the construction of the temple. Using all means of publicity/promotion/exposure/public relations, the Ram Bhaktas should ensure that this grand programme reaches more and more people of the society. Surely, in all these schemes and programmes, all care should be taken, including wearing of face masks, hand sanitizing, social distancing, etc., to protect one and all from the pandemic of COVID-19 infection, and all government and administrative guidelines in this regard must be followed.

VHP central joint general secretary Shri Surendra Jain on August 1 said the reconstruction of Shri Ram temple is a glorious moment. The Hindu society fought continuously for 492 years to undo the debasing the signature superimposed by the foreign invader Babar on the birthplace temple of Shri Ram in Ayodhya. “In the latest mass struggle that started in 1984 CE, 160 million Rambhakts and more than 3 lakh villages of Bharat participated. This struggle continued till the historic verdict of the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019. It was the result of this, cultural freedom struggle that Babar’s outlandish superimposed structure, that disgraced our pride and nationhood, is no longer there, and the resolve to build a stately temple to Shri Ram is going to soon materialise steadily by degrees. He further said pride of nationality is an important motivating element for any country, but due to the politics of divisive appeasement, the definition of nationality of Bharat was confused, a national crisis of identity was being created. Now Bharat’s nationality cannot be linked to any foreign invader.