VHP slams Vijay Rupani govt for 'hurting Hindus' over HC order rejecting Rath Yatra

Hours after Gujarat High Court refused to grant permission to take out Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad, state unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday lambasted Chief Minister Vijay Rupani-led BJP government for not making "positive efforts" to make the annual religious event happen in the city like it did in Puri, Odisha. The annual religious event was held on Tuesday, which was restricted to the temple precinct where Rupani and other ministers performed rituals.

The VHP issued a statement saying that "VHP respects the decision of the high court but the whole episode make it clear that had the state government taken efforts positively, the result would have been different. There are many important facts related to Rath Yatra that has hurt the Hindu society...the Hindu Society will never forgive this government."

"The state government lacked the will power and remained indecisive. They should have approached the high court early but kept waiting just like the temple trustees, which also didn't approach the court. We had asked the government and the temple trustees to allow the yatra by imposing janta curfew along the route but they didn't listen to us," Ashok Raval, the president of the state VHP, told DH.

He claimed that "The government was scared that such an event will increase the coronavirus cases which will dent its image in the country. If the government was so adamant then why did it go to the high court and that too in the last few hours. It happened only after Vijay Rupani came to the temple last evening and announced that the government will move high court for permission subject to certain conditions," Raval said while adding that it was nothing but "face saving gesture".

As a matter of fact, the temple trust had sought permission from the state government to permit it for taking out the annual procession. But the government did not respond. This was also highlighted in the high court where a public interest litigation was filed to stop the yatra in view of rising pandemic in Ahmedabad. On June 20, the court was "astonished" to see government's inaction and issued order to explain this "inaction" while staying the yatra.

VHP officials said that after temple trustees did not move court against the order, it asked an NGO to file a review petition, which was also rejected on June 22 since the NGO had no locus standi. By the evening, nearly a dozen petitions were filed one by one till late Monday night including one by state government seeking conditional permission. The hearing started at 12:45 AM and the court passed an order at 2 AM, rejecting all the petition citing rising coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad.