VHP calls ‘Sant huddle’ over Gyanvapi row
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, October 6: Emboldened with the Varanasi district court ruling that the civil suit in the matter of Gyanvapi Mosque for the right to offer prayers inside the premises, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in its ‘all India Sant Samiti meeting’ in the national capital on Friday has put the agenda to ‘free temples from possession of invaders’ at the top.
The VHP is holding the meeting at the convention centre at the Jantar Mantar. “The key subjects for the meeting will be Gyanvapi Temple, Shri Krishna janmabhoomi, Mathura, and also freeing all temples across the country from the possession of inavders,” stated the note of the VHP for the Friday meeting.
Some of the prominent heads of the religious orders, including Akhada Parishad, will be taking part in the Friday deliberations.
The meeting is clearly an attempt by the VHP to open another front after the Supreme Court order on the Ram janmabhoomi dispute paved the way for the construction of a grand temple in Ayodhya. The VHP appears charting its own course even while the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that there is no need to look for a Shivlinga in every mosque.
The VHP had in fact been lying low after the Ayodhya verdict of the Supreme Court, with some of the key functionaries of the RSS affiliate involved in the construction of the Ram Temple through the trust formed by the government. The Friday meeting will also be interesting to watch out for the role of the RSS affiliates in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Uttar Pradesh with 80 Lok Sabha seats has been seen to be politically sensitive to the politics of polarization.
The Gyanvapi row along with Mathura would affect two key regions of UP.