Ahead of the Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha scheduled in Ayodhya on 22nd January, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut has made a bizarre statement showcasing the opposition alliance’s ‘support’ to the Ram Mandir. Raut said that Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was underway in the year 1990, also contributed to Ram Mandir by ordering open fire against the Kar Sevaks.
In an exclusive interview with Satya Hindi’s YouTube channel on 17th January, Raut claimed that Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh contributed to the construction of Ram Mandir as he ordered firing on Kar Sevaks during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, which resulted in the killing of a large number of Ram devotees.
“I believe, Mulayam Singh Yadav also contributed to Ram Mandir. If he hadn’t fired, the Ram Janmabhoom movement wouldn’t have taken a grip. Ram gave everybody the sense at that time and everybody acted accordingly so that the temple could be built today,” Raut could be heard saying after 11 minutes into the video. He said that Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao also contributed to the Ram Mandir movement.
In the interview further, he alleged that BJP was trying to convert the Ram Temple into a political event. “When the Ram Janmabhoomi movement started, there was no political intention in the minds of people. Everybody just wanted the temple to be constructed. People sacrificed their lives for the temple. Some of our members also participated in Kar Seva. But today the picture is only in favor of BJP. It is as if the Ram temple or Ayodhya is BJP’s property,” he said.
Raut added that the ‘construction of Ram Temple’ is the biggest ‘failure’ of PM Modi’s leadership. “Modi government will not talk about Kashmiri Pandits, it will not talk about corruption, it will not talk about employment generation, etc. Ram Mandir is the only agenda that PM Modi has been using to win elections. This is the biggest failure of PM Modi’s leadership that he has to take the support of Ram Mandir to win elections,” Raut added.
Commenting on the controversy involving the Shankaracharyas, Raut said that earlier people believed only in 4 Shankaracharyas, now the 5th one had arrived and that was PM Modi. “Now people believe in PM Modi if they are willing to follow Sanatan Dharma. They don’t pay attention to what the Shakaracharyas are saying,” he stated.
It is important to note that Sringeri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Mahaswamiji on 15th January said that propaganda was being run by a few people claiming that Shankaracharyas were against the Ram Mandir. He asked the Sanatan Dharmis to ignore the propaganda and unitedly recite Lord Ram’s name (Ram naam) and seek the blessings of Shri Ram on 22nd January.
“This is the moment for which Hindus have struggled for the last 500 years. Everybody is happy and satisfied as the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha is taking place in Ayodhya on 22nd January. We all have to unitedly participate in the event and seek blessings of Lord Ram,” he said.
Earlier, on 12th January, top spiritual leaders of Sanatan Hindu Dharma, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Dwarka SharadaPeetham and Sringeri Math had issued statements addressed to Lord Ram devotees regarding the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the idol of Lord Ram in Ayodhya on 22nd January. They denounced the fallacies disseminated in social media by vested interests and extended their firm support and blessings to the Pran Pratishtha event. They were reacting to claims by Congress leaders and others that four Shankaracharyas in India including the Shankaracharya of Dwarka and Sringeri math have opposed the Pran Pratishtha ceremony and that they are not attending the event.
While the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath and Puri have indeed said that they will not attend the event, no such announcements were made by Dwarka and Sringeri, but their names were also added to the claims. They have not said that they are opposed to the ceremony, and have not said that the Ram Mandir is incomplete, as claimed by several opposition leaders. Therefore the Dwarka and Sringeri Maths have issued statements refuting such claims, and they urged the devotees to celebrate the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut mocked the Pran Pratishtha event scheduled to take place on 22nd January 2024 in Ayodhya. He called the ceremony a political event and said that the only thing left for the BJP was to announce Lord Ram as their election candidate.
Also, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sushma Andhare was booked by Maharashtra Police for insulting and raising questions over Lord Rama, Lord Krishna’s character. “I don’t want a husband like Lord Rama. Who wants a husband like Lord Rama who showed mistrust of his wife and sent her to exile while she was 7 months pregnant? If people raised questions about Goddess Sita’s character for being in Ravana’s captivity for years, why did nobody question Lord Rama’s character? He was also alone in the jungle while she was held hostage, right?” Andhare had said in the speech for which she was booked.
