PIL in HC seeking ban on consecration ceremony at Ram Temple

Lucknow: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Allahabad high court seeking a ban on the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22 on the ground that it was ''against the tenets of the Sanatan Dharma''.

The PIL, filed by one Bhola Das, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad town, has contended that the consecration ceremony was intended to ''politically benefit'' the BJP.

Das, in his petition, has also cited the opposition to the consecration ceremony by some 'Shankaracharyas', and said that 'Pran Pratishtha' (consecration) of the idol was not in accordance with the Sanatan Dharma as the Ram Temple was incomplete.

He also said that no religious event could be organised as per the tenets of the Sanatan Dharma in the month of 'Paush' (a month in Hindu calendar) as it was considered to be inauspicious.

The petitioner also said that participation of prime minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the proposed consecration ceremony was against the spirit of the Constitution of the country.

The lawyer of Das said that the PIL had been filed on Tuesday and that it would be his endeavour that it was heard by the court as soon as possible.

Two of the four Shankaracharyas have opposed the consecration ceremony. Swami Avimukteshwaranand Maharaj, the Shankaracharya of Badrikashram Jyotirmath, Uttarakhand, said that it was against the tenets of Hinduism to install the deity of Ram Lala in an ''incomplete Temple''.

Swami Nischalananda Sarswati, the Shankaracharya of Puri based Govardhan Peeth, also said that the consecration ceremony was not in accordance with 'sanatan dharma'. ''If the conduct of a person, even if he occupies a respectable post, is not worth emulating then it should be opposed....this fact needs to be kept in mind with reference to Shri Ramjanmabhoomi also,'' he had said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter).