Mumbai, July 7 (IANS). Maharashtra Congress will launch statewide protests from Tuesday against the BJP and RSS in protest against the alleged theft of Ayodhya Ram temple offerings.
Congress state chief Harsh Vardhan Sapkal said, “Ram devotees have donated lakhs of rupees along with gold and silver jewelery to Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya.” He alleged that donations given by devotees were looted and also strongly criticized the BJP and RSS.
The Congress leader said, “This is not just looting of money or donations, but looting in the name of Shri Ram against the faith of lakhs of devotees.”
He said that the Congress party will demand strict punishment against those responsible for this. BJP and RSS have insulted Lord Ram. He further said that the protest will be officially launched at the historic Kalaram Temple in Nashik on Tuesday at 11 am. After this, the statewide ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ Satyagraha will be organized in all the districts from July 9 to 14.
Sapkal said that the Satyagraha will be organized in local Ram, Shiva or Hanuman temples located in the district headquarters.
During the protest, Sapkal said prayers would be offered to God to “provide sanity and wisdom to the deceitful people who grab money in the name of Maryada Purushottam Lord Ram.”
The Congress party’s announcement comes a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) launched a statewide “Ram Raksha Andolan” on July 5 to protest against alleged large-scale financial irregularities and embezzlement of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya.
Party chief Uddhav Thackeray launched the movement at the historic Hanuman Temple in Dadar, Mumbai, where he led the Ram Raksha Maha Aarti along with party workers and a group of sadhus from Ayodhya.
The protest centered on the simultaneous recitation of Ram Raksha Stotra and Hanuman Chalisa, which the party intends to repeat in various districts.
Prominent spokespersons and leaders of the UBT demanded the immediate dissolution of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and stressed that standard administrative accountability should be imposed on the sacred funds. Uddhav Thackeray and MP Sanjay Raut launched a scathing attack against the ruling party.
Making specific allegations, Raut claimed that apart from the cash, valuable gold jewelery offered by devotees to Mata Sita, a gold-studded Ramcharitmanas and a gold Mangalsutra have also gone missing.
Reminding the public of Shiv Sena’s history in the original Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Thackeray said, “We are staunch and patriotic Hindus. Hindus are innocent, but not stupid. If someone takes advantage of our faith and loots a temple, Hindus will not forgive him.”
–IANS
SAK/AS