VHP’s two-day meeting
Reflections on government takeover of temples, religious conversions, and rising religious fanaticism
The Sunday Mail
New Delhi. The two-day meeting of the Central Margdarshak Mandal of the VHP began on Tuesday at Punjabi Bagh. Addressing the inaugural session, chaired by Jyotish Peethadhishwar Jagadguru Shankaracharya Pujya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Maharaj, VHP International President Alok Kumar spoke about the challenges facing Hindu society and requested the revered saints to guide the society on the following points:
• Liberation of Hindu temples from government control.
• Effective measures to curb the increasing incidents of religious conversions across the country.
• Uniform implementation of the Freedom of Religion Act across the country.
• Growing Jihadi mentality, fanaticism, and violent incidents in the country.
• Growing social problems in border areas and the de-addiction campaign.
• All Hindus should write their religion as ‘Hindu’ in the upcoming census.
At the meeting, Pujya Swami Jitendranand Saraswati, General Secretary of the All India Sant Samiti, stated that some groups today are daring to justify jihad and terrorist mentality. The tendency to support the perpetrators of the Delhi terrorist attack is extremely worrying. He demanded that the country’s Parliament enact strict and effective laws. He also stressed the need to free temples from government acquisition and enact a population control law.
Respected saints from Bengal expressed concern over the dire situation in the state and said that the public jihadist statements by fundamentalists, threats and atrocities against Hindus, are a warning not only for Bengal but for the entire country.
Sudhanshu Ji Maharaj, referring to the 500 years of austerity and struggle for the construction of the Ram Temple, said that India’s true energy lies in our saints and cultural traditions. The need of the hour is to strengthen gurukuls, priestly traditions, ashrams, and sanskar centers, and for the Sanatan society to unite to harness its cultural strength.
The meeting was attended by Pujya Jagadguru Swami Ram Kamalacharya Ji, Atal Peethadheeshwar Pujya Swami Vishwatmanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj, Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Pujya Swami Vishokanand Ji Maharaj, Pujya Swami Vivekananda Ji Maharaj, Geeta Manishi Gyananand Ji Maharaj, General Secretary of All India Sant Samiti Pujya Swami Jitendrananda Saraswati Ji Maharaj, VHP Vice President Shri Omprakash Singhal, Patron Shri Dinesh Chandra, Co-Organization Minister Shri Vinayak Rao and Central Minister Shri Ashok Tiwari along with many revered saints and VHP officials from across the country. VHP National Spokesperson Vinod Bansal said that the saints will present their views tomorrow also.
