RSS wants govt to build Ram Mandir as Somnath was renovated by Sardar Patel
Keshav Srushti, Oct 31: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wants that the government should bring a legislation to build Sri Ram Temple at Ayodhya like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel got the Somnath temple renovated just after independence.
Expressing this view at a press briefing organized on the side lines of the three-day RSS ABKM meeting here RSS Sah-Sarkaryawah Dr Manmohan Vaidya reiterated that Ayodhya issue is of national pride and glory. The Government make a law and should acquire land and hand it over for construction of Sri Ram Mandir just as Sardar Patel had renovated the Somnath Mandir and the then President Dr Rajendra Prasad had gone there to participate in the ‘Pran-pratishtha’ program, Vaidya said.
Replying to a question on the issue of Ram Mandir Vaidya said that it is not a Hindu-Muslim or Mandir-Masjid issue. When Babur’s general invaded Ayodhya there was ample land available for building a mosque. But he destroyed the temple. The excavations carried out by archaeological department also proved it beyond doubt the existence of a temple there.
Vaidya further said that according to the Islamic scholars, no ‘namaz’ is accepted by the Allah which is offered on a disputed or forcefully acquired land. Besides, the Supreme Court also has ruled that mosque is not an essential part of ‘namaz’, it can be offered anywhere.
Meanwhile, the three-day RSS Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal (ABKM) meeting began here from today with Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohanrao Bhagwat and Sarkaryaawah Suresh alias Bhayyaji Joshi offering floral tributes to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and portrait of Bharat Mata.
Addressing a press conference on this occasion Dr Manmohan Vaidya said that the ABKM meeting is organized twice a year – in March and before Diwali. The meeting is attended by RSS national, zonal and state level office-bearers. Dr Vaidya was accompanied by RSS Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar and his deputy Narendra Thakur at the press conference. This meeting attended by over 350 delegates will continue till November 2, he added.
Dr Vaidya said that besides deliberating on various issues of national importance the meeting will discuss the programs of last year and plan for next year’s programs. In addition, deliberations will be held on new projects or experiments conducted by Sangh in different areas.
He said that the Sangh has undertaken special schemes of spreading its work since 2010. The Sangh work is expanded through the daily shakhas and their number today has crossed 55000 at present. The shakhas have spread from Leh-Laddakh to Tripura and Andaman covering 850 districts and 6000 tehsils. The RSS has formed a cluster of 10-12 villages which is called ‘Mandal’ in RSS parlance and all the villages of the country are included in 56000 such ‘mandals’. The RSS has reached in 58 percent of these ‘mandals’ at present, he said adding that out of 82 percent of the 31000 places that have regular daily shakhas are located in rural areas while the urban areas count for 18 percent only.
He further said that this meeting would give more importance to environment and water conservation. How the RSS swayamsevaks could work with the society on these issues will be the focus of discussion in this meeting, he said. The Sangh has taken village development work since 1998 and the effects of this campaign are now visible in 600 villages now. Based on the results of these villages the Sangh has further selected 2000 villages to conduct various projects and experiments of development, he said.
The Sangh has taken up the mission of keeping the families united through ‘Parivar Prabodhan’ (Educating the families) to save families from breaking and fragmenting. Saving families is the major concern of RSS and this meeting is expected to discuss on this issue and how to expand this activity, he added.
Dr Vaidya said that the RSS swayamsevaks offer their services on every occasion of natural or manmade calamity but they are not trained for this purpose. The meeting is expected to deliberate on how to train them so that their efficiency could be improved in dealing with such situations, he added. He said that the RSS swayamsevaks are dunning 1.5 lakh service projects. A survey is being conducted countrywide to ascertain the liking of the swayamsevkas so that they could be deployed in the fields of their choice and liking, he added.