Must bring this govt again: Sant Samiti

The two-day Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti meeting on Ayodhya, which began on Saturday on a note critical of the Modi government for not fulfilling the promise on Ram temple construction, ended on Sunday with a message “this government has to be brought again.”

The government has so far not given any categorical assurance as to whether it is ready to accept the “ordinance or legislation” demand of seers to begin construction of the temple at Ayodhya even as a number of BJP leaders, including Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, justified the "people’s expectations on this count” from the government.

While announcing a series of programmes to build the tempo for Ram temple construction, the two-day ‘Dharmadesh’ meeting attended by over 3,000 Hindu seers from over 125 organisations concluded, “We are satisfied with whatever this government is doing to resolve the problems. This government has to be brought again.”

At a time when the upper caste constituency of the BJP is restive and there have been media reports that incensed over the government's perceived aggressive SC/OBC pitch, they could opt NOTA option not to vote for any party in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Saint Samiti meeting dubbed as “anti-national” those clamouring for NOTA.

It said, “vote only for those who respect the cow, the Ganga and the Gayatri (Gau, Ganga aur Gayatri). NOTA is the insult of democracy. Those opting for NOTA are anti-national.”

The resolution also quoted a couplet of noted Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar to hammer home the point that history will take of note of those who remained neutral, suggesting that such people will also have to share the blame.

Seer Jagatguru Ramnandacharya Hansdevacharya said that it is for the first time in last five thousand years that seers are giving ‘dharmadesh’.

“What else is this if not ‘achche din’. Had there been any other government in place, section 144 would have been clamped here and we would have been in jail,” he said recalling “ earlier when Shankaracharya tried to give dharmadesh, he was sent to jail.”

Training guns on previous governments (headed by Congress and other Opposition parties), he said that the governments of past used to gift replica of “Tajmahal and Bible” while now the foreign delegates are gifted the Gita and the Ramayana. “What else this is if not achche din,” he said.

Achche Din was the key poll slogan of BJP led by Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Opposition parties have repeatedly taken swipe over the government on this poll plank of Modi.

The Saint Samiti has clearly debunked the Opposition parties’s criticism of ‘achche din’ slogan of Modi.

On Saturday Swami Chinmayananda, former Minister of State for Internal Affairs in Vajpayee government had said, “I want to tell the government that the historic mandate that you have got should not go waste. The courage of 56 inches, which is visible in surgical strike against Pakistan and in deciding demonetization, show the same courage on Ayodhya as well.”

At the conclusion of the event on Sunday, Swami Jitendranand Saraswati said that while on the one hand the saints are hurt over decks not having been cleared for the construction of the Ram Temple, the sants, on the other hand are also happy with the several works done by the government of India regarding the nation, region, culture, national security national pride.

“Whatever expectations we have are only from this government and it is our faith that it is this government, which will solve our problems and will come true to our expectations,” he said.

The remarks by Sant Samiti members came after a number of BJP leaders on Saturday expressed agreement with the sentiments for immediate construction of Ram Temple.