‘Dharm Sansad’ to be held at Mahakumbh to consider ‘Sanatan Board’ proposal

Lucknow: Prominent Hindu seers on Saturday said that they have prepared a proposal to set up a ‘Sanatan Board’ on the lines of the Waqf Board to ‘protect’ the temples, mutts and the followers of ‘Sanatan Dharma’ and to wage legal battle to retake the temples, which were demolished and converted into mosques.

The proposal would be put before the ‘dharm sansad’ (religious parliament) to be held at the forthcoming ’Mahakumbh’, which would begin at Prayagraj in January next year.

The ‘Dharm Sansad’ would be organised by the All India Sanatan Parishad in which the shankaracharyas of the four peethas, all the 13 ‘Akharas’ and prominent seers from across the country would be invited to attend.

‘’The proposal will be discussed at length at the dharm sansad and the seers will be asked to give their views on the same....the proposal will then be adopted there and thereafter it will be sent to the Centre and the state governments,’’ Acharya Balkananda Giri, the Mahamandaleshwar of Anand Akhara said in Prayagraj after a meeting of the seers.

He said that the objective behind setting up a ‘Sanatan Board’ was not to ‘capture’ or’ grab’ the properties of others but to ensure protection of temples, mutts and the followers of the ‘sanatan dharma’.

‘’The Sanatan Board will fight legal battles to retake the demolished temples and the temples which have been converted into mosques....the old temples will be renovated,’’ he added.

The Acharya said that a signature campaign would also be launched in the country in support of the Sanatan Board. ‘’The signatures collected in the campaign will be sent to the prime minister and chief ministers,’’ he said.

The proposal included granting constitutional status to the Sanatan Board, inclusion of retired judges, senior lawyers and seers in it besides the heads of the 13 Akharas.

The Sanatan Board would also launch a nationwide campaign to check conversion and encourage preservation of the Sanskrit language, Vedas and puranas.