IPS officer caught on cam pledging for Ram temple
LUCKNOW: A senior IPS officer has landed in a controversy over taking a pledge for early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Director general (home guards) Surya Kumar Shukla, a 1982 batch officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), took the pledge with others for “early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya” during a private event organised by Akhil Bharatiya Samagra Vichar Manch at Lucknow University on January 28.
The video of the event is being shared extensively on social media. A senior official in the home department said, taking cognisance of the report, the government has sought an explanation from Shukla.
“Hum sab Ram bhakt aaj ke karyakram ke dauraan yeh sankalp letey hain ki jald se jald bhavya Ram Mandir ka nirman ho. Jai Sri Ram (We the devotees of Lord Ram, during this event, pledge for an early construction of the Ram temple),” Shukla is purportedly seen as saying in the video.
Shukla, who is due to retire next year, said he participated in the event and took the pledge but added that it was being misinterpreted and misconstrued.
“It was an intellectual gathering where people from Hindu and Muslim communities were present. Muslims, who attended the event, favoured a peaceful and early solution to the issue,” Shukla said over phone.
“Muslim participants floated the idea that a possible solution was to build Ram temple at Ram Janmbhoomi site and construct a mosque at some distance. All the participants welcomed it,” he said. Shukla said he told the gathering that any solution should be in sync with the court’s directions on the issue.
“The pledge we took was for the peaceful and harmonious solution of the issue,” he said.
The partners in the event, titled ‘Ram Mandir nirmaan: Samasya evam samadhaan (Ram temple construction: Problem and solution)’ were Rashtriya Muslim Manch, Bhagwa Raksha Vahini, Sanatan Mahasabha, Bajrangbali Samajik Seva Samiti, Karyasevak Muslim Manch and Bhrashtachar Mukti Andolan. Commenting on the video, Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava said it was a clear violation of service rules that govern officers like Shukla, and demanded that the CM take disciplinary action against him.
State spokesman of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Vaibhav Maheshwari said it was shameful that in a secular country a senior police officer was behaving like this. “The government and the courts should take note of this immediately and terminate Shukla,” he demanded.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said, “Shukla is a public servant, and he is not supposed to take such a pledge at a public function.”
BJP spokesmen were not ready to comment on the episode, claiming they had not seen the video.
(With agency inputs)