Top Hindu seer vows to 'restore' Kashi, Mathura after Ayodhya

Ayodhya: A top Hindu seer on Sunday vowed to 'restore' the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.

Jagadguru Rambhadracharya, who was among the invitees at the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on Monday, said that he had taken a pledge not to hold 'katha' (sermon) in Ayodhya until the restoration of the Ram Temple.

''Now that Shri Ram is at his home, I am holding the katha here,'' the seer, who commands considerable following in the country, said in Ayodhya on Sunday.

The seer slammed the Congress leaders for declining the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony. ''Vinash kale viparit buddhi'' (a person loses his ability to think in bad times), he remarked when queried in this regard.

He also came down heavily on the Shankaracharyas for criticising the consecration ceremony and said that they were not the only representatives of Hinduism in the country. 

''Let them (shankaracharyas) say what they want....no harm will come to Hinduism from their utterances,'' he added.

He also rejected assertions that religion should not be mixed with politics and said that a harmonious relationship between the seers and the politicians would do good for the country.

The seer's remarks indicated that the saffron outfits would now focus on Kashi and Mathura after the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya.

Although the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which had spearheaded the Ram temple movement, had made it clear that Shrikrishna Janmabhoomi was not on its agenda, the All India Akhara Parishad (AIAP), an apex body of the seers in the country, had called for removal of the Gyanvapi Mosque, which was adjacent to the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Mosque which was adjacent to the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.