Dalit religious leader should have been invited for Ram temple bhoomi pujan: Mayawati

BSP President Mayawati advised the Dalit community to distance themselves from such matters.

BSP PRESIDENT Mayawati on Friday said it would have been better had an invitation been extended to “Dalit Mahamandaleshwar” Kanhaiya Prabhunandan Giri for the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on August 5, adding that it “would have had some impact on the Constitutional intention of setting a casteless society”.

This comes after reports in sections of the media that Prabhunandan Giri was unhappy over not being invited to the event.

In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati wrote, “Considering Dalit Mahamandaleshwar Swami Kanhaiya Prabhunandan Giri’s complaint, it would have been better if he was also invited for the ceremony along with other 200 saints/sadhus.”

At the same time, the BSP chief advised the Dalit community to distance themselves from such matters and “focus on work by walking on the path shown by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar”.

The remarks came in the wake of allegations by Prabhunandan Giri that he was not invited to the event possibly out of apprehensions that his visit would make the temple “apavitra” (impure).

Narendra Giri, president of Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad, denied Prabhunandan Giri’s allegations, saying that “saints do not have any caste.”

Kameshwar Chaupal, member of Ram Janma Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust who belongs to the Dalit community, also denied the allegations and said he is a representative in the trust and moreover, mud from places of worship of Dalits from different parts of Bihar was being brought for the bhoomipujan ceremony.

“The allegations are false. Amid the coronavirus situation in the country, norms are that number (of people at functions) should be limited. I, Kameshwar Chaupal am there. I am a Dalit and there are others, too. It is not appropriate to make such allegations. I am bringing mud from different places of worship of the Dalit Samaj in Bihar.”

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