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VHP faces rough weather
over temple plans

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad's resolve to announce a date for the construction of a temple at Ayodhya appears to have run into rough weather, at least if the Ahkhara Parishad, the key driving force behind the large congregation of sadhus, has its way.

The Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad has formally passed a resolution that clearly expresses opposition to the VHP and sees a negotiated settlement as the only answer to the vexed issue. It has also made it clear that it will not have anything to do with the "self-proclaimed" champions of Hindutva, if they continued with the usual hardline stance on the temple issue.

"We do not see any point in announcing a date for starting construction of the temple without thrashing out a settlement on the basic issue about the site," Mahant Govind Dasji Maharaj, general secretary of the parishad, told rediff.com at his Kumbh camp, on the vast sandy banks of the Ganga here.

He said, "The only way that we would want the temple to get started was through a negotiated settlement." According to him "it was important to keep politicians of all shades out of such a process as the issue could best be sorted out through dialogue between religious leaders on both sides."

Other prominent sadhus of the Niranjan Akhara, the Udaseen Akhara and even the oldest and toughest Juna Akhara were also vehemently critical of the VHP and its supremo Ashok Singhal. "The VHP and its leaders were only interested in playing politics and in collecting funds in the name of the temple; they were not interested in the temple," said Mahant Maheshwaranand and Mahant Shree Bharatjee Naga Baba Maharaj.

Several other leading mahants of the akharas charged Singhal with "always taking undue advantage of such spiritual gatherings as the Kumbh Mela for personal political aggrandisement by using the sadhu samaj as a front".

The saffron-clad septuagenarian sadhu was also responsible for waging a war against international tour operator Cox and Kings, that was on Wednesday told to close shop for "violating the fundamental norms of a spiritual congregation like the Kumbh mela"- the largest human gathering on earth.

Each of the 13 akharas have independent camps and co-ordination is maintained by the parishad, which is also their supreme nodal body. A couple of saffron-robed, white-clothed, semi-clad or even naked sadhus can be seen carrying out routine spirituals at these camps, frequented by a large chunk of Kumbh devotees.

An estimated 70 million Hindu devotees were expected to converge during the six-week festival that opened on January 9. A dip at the holy confluence of the Ganga,Yamuna and Saraswati rivers is believed to not only wash away sins but also seen as a sure way to salvation.

The mahant is opposed to the involvement of hardliners in such talks. "Hardliners, both on the part of Muslims and Hindus, must be kept out of any such process, since neither seemed to be interested in building the temple or the mosque," he said.

"We would like to appeal to Islamic leaders to exercise compassion and display generosity by allowing construction of the temple at the site where a makeshift temple exists, paving the way for construction of a mosque anywhere in the neighbourhood," he added.

Exuding confidence that such a process could be thrashed out "if the religious figures of the two sides alone were left to resolve the tangle", the mahant said, adding, "we would therefore also appeal to the 'dharma sansad' (religious parliament) meeting here from January 19 to 21 not to adopt a confrontationist path for executing a solemn task of the construction of the Ram temple."

He claimed, "The akhara parishad had passed a resolution two years back at a similar dharm sansad for paving the way for an amicable settlement." He continued, "We had also stated in the resolution that we must avoid any step that was likely to tarnish the highly tolerant traditions and ethos of the Hindu religion and in turn this great nation."

The mahant wondered why the VHP had been getting 'over-aggressive' on the issue when their resolve was conveyed in 1998 and they had agreed to adhere to it.

Asked if under the circumstances, he would attend the dharma sansad convened by the VHP itself, Mahant Govind Das said, "Well, we have accepted the invitation, but it is very clear that we will not be guided by any decision the VHP takes there; we would honour the course set by our sadhu community, which we would like to advise not to take any step that may cause embarrassment to the Hindu community in general and the Indian nation in particular."

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