Cops send fasting seer to hospital

A HINDU seer on an indefinite fast to press for early construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya has been picked up from the temple town in Uttar Pradesh and sent to a hospital in Lucknow.

“He was picked up by the police after his condition deteriorated after midnight,” an official said. Mahant Praramhans Das’s pulse rate dropped alarmingly forcing police to intervene.

He was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences where doctors treating him said his condition was critical as the ketone level in the body was very high due to prolonged fasting. He has also suffered acute dehydration.

The institute’s director Rakesh Kapoor is supervising Das’s treatment. He has been kept in the critical care ICU. Nobody is allowed to meet him.

The seer has been on a sit-in protest for the past week. He declared he wouldn’t relent until assurances from the state and central government that the construction of the temple would be expedited.

On Sunday, state Industry Minister Satish Mahana asked the seer to give up his fast unto death. He assured Das he’d soon arrange a video call between him and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

There is anger against the police action. Many from the seer’s community have converged at the venue of his fast. Former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Praveen Togadia is trying to appease the agitated seers. – IANS