Seers to meet PM to fulfil Singhal’s ‘temple dream’

As senior BJP leaders on Thursday sparred over who was the real successor to VHP leader Ashok Singhal, seers from Ayodhya prepared to meet and remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi the need to fulfill Singhal’s “temple dream.”

Ram Janambhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das told HT on phone from Ayodhya that the saints would realize Singhal’s “dream of a grand temple in the Lord’s birthplace.” The meeting of saints with the PM was decided in Singhal’s presence in June this year. However, it couldn’t materialize so far. But now with the ‘Hindutva warrior’ gone, the saints have decided to meet the PM “at the earliest” to discuss the temple issue.

The decision of the saints to meet the PM came at a time when Union minister Uma Bharti was quoted claiming stake as the “real successor” to Singhal. Bharti reportedly made the statement in her Jhansi parliamentary constituency even as BJP veteran Vinay Katiyar, who like Bharti is a product of the temple movement, shot back in Ayodhya that “being successor to Singhal couldn’t be that easy.”

In June, Singhal had visited Ayodhya and spoken of the need for the constitution of a special bench in the apex court to settle the temple issue. His suggestion had found favor with the saints, including those from the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas who had then spoken of the need to meet the PM in this regard. Singhal was also in favor of pushing the centre for introducing a bill in Parliament.

VHP’s Ayodhya-based spokesman Sharad Sharma said a meeting of the saints and others associated with the temple issue was likely to be convened soon to discuss various aspects associated with the temple issue. Mahant Sia Kishori Sharan, a member of the VHP’s highest decision making body the Marg Darshak Mandal, said, “A grand temple in Ayodhya would be a fitting tribute to a man who at 16 years jumped into the temple movement and united the saints and other religious leaders belonging to different sects.”

Senior VHP leaders Purushottam Narain and Shiv Das Singh, Mahant Kanhaiya Das of Sankadik Ashram at Ayodhya, BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh were among those who met in Ayodhya to pay their tributes to the Singhal.

I am his (Singhal’s) real successor but can’t say anything more at present. I will say more at the appropriate moment.

UMA BHARTI, Union minister Fitting into Singhalji’s shoes is not easy, all of us including saints would have to collectively take the Ayodhya movement forward.

VINAY KATIYAR, BJP veteran