Lucknow: Praising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust general secretary Champat Rai said Wednesday that a “50-year-old youth” travelling 3,000 km on foot in this weather is “worth appreciating”.
Rai made the remark when asked by reporters about the letter to Gandhi by Mahant Satyendra Das, chief priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi, in which the priest extended his blessings to the Congress leader for the foot march. The Mahant, while expressing his inability to physically join the yatra, had said in the letter that the effort was in the direction of “sarvajan sukhaye, sarvajan hitaye (good and betterment for all)”.
Responding to a question about the Mahant’s letter, Rai told reporters in Ayodhya: “So what is it? A young man is walking on foot and trying to understand the country, it is worth appreciating. What is wrong with this? Who is criticising it (yatra)? I am a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Has someone in the Sangh ever criticised (the yatra)? Has Prime Minister sahab criticised the padyatra?”
Praising the Congress MP from Wayanad for his efforts, he went further to add, “A 50-year-old youth is travelling 3,000 km on foot in this weather. So, we’re only going to appreciate him.”
However, Rai fell short of welcoming the yatra, which entered its three-day Uttar Pradesh leg Wednesday, and advised reporters to embark on a padayatra to better understand the country instead.
Contacted for comment over his remarks, Rai told ThePrint, “Let it be viral. I’m not affected by these things. I don’t watch news channels or read newspapers. If anything gets published in my name in the newspapers, I accept everything. End of matter. You shouldn’t try to know anything. Whether you believe it or not, it’s up to you, that’s the end of it.”
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‘If not for his blessings’
There would’ve been no hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi case in the Supreme Court had it not been for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Rai suggested later Wednesday when asked about Shah’s announcement last week about the inauguration of the under-construction Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Addressing a public meeting in Karnataka’s Mandya on 30 December, Shah had asked those present to book their tickets to Ayodhya to attend the “grand inauguration of the magnificent Ram temple” on 1 January 2024.
When reporters in Ayodhya asked him Wednesday whether there was “interference” by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the construction of the temple, Rai quipped: “Arey…Unki kripa se, nahin toh Supreme Court me sunvayi hi nahin hoti (If not for his blessings, there would have been no hearing in the Supreme Court at all).”
“Tum dakhal keh rahe ho? Desh ke samman ke liye kaam karne wala khoon hain wo (you are talking about interference? His is the blood that works for the country,” added Rai, who is also international vice president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
While he did not elaborate, Rai seemed to be referring to the November 2019 verdict by a five-judge SC bench led by the then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi that ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. While directing the government to form a trust to oversee the construction of the temple, the bench also said in its order that a 5-acre plot at a “prominent site” be allotted to the Sunni Waqf Board, one of the main litigants in the title suit, for building a mosque.
Pressed again to confirm if the “grand inauguration” of the Ram temple in Ayodhya would be held on 1 January 2024, Rai told reporters that the date will be finalised when priests suggest a “muhurat (auspicious time)”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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