‘The RSS’s statement from Belagavi expressing grief over the alleged theft of donations at the Ayodhya Ram temple was inadequate, as the key accused is still at large’
NEW DELHI — Calling Nagpur the “capital of Hindutva”, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday that the July 18 Ram Raksha Andolan led by party chief Uddhav Thackeray is meant to send a message to Hindus.
The city of Nagpur in Maharashtra is home to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Raut, who is also the executive editor of the party mouthpiece Saamana, said the RSS’s statement from Belagavi expressing grief over the alleged theft of donations at the Ayodhya Ram temple was inadequate, as the key accused is still at large.
Raut took a veiled dig at the Mahayuti alliance, the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, whose leaders mocked the UBT faction over Uddhav Thackeray’s Ram Raksha Andolan. One of the allegations was that Thackeray could not even recite the Ram Raksha Stotra properly.
Responding to this, Raut said, “Those who can recite the Ram Raksha fluently are the ones who stole from Ram temples. However, this andolan (movement) is not directed against the RSS or anyone else. We are organising a religious event, not a political programme.”
Asked whether the UBT would be able to secure civic and police permissions for the event, Raut said, “We will invite everyone. If Devendra-ji (Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis) is in Nagpur that day, we will invite him too. We will speak to RSS office-bearers and invite them as well. If they all come, we will roll out the red carpet for them.”
When pressed on whether he would indeed invite RSS members, Raut said he would try to contact as many of them as possible. “We will go to the RSS headquarters and invite its senior office-bearers. We will ask all parties to attend. This is Ram’s path, Ram’s strength.”
Raut said Congress and NCP leaders would also be invited if they wished to attend, and reiterated that Chief Minister Fadnavis, a life member of the Ramnagar temple who visits it every year for darshan, would receive a warm invitation. “We will invite him with respect and love,” he said.
He acknowledged that Uddhav’s presence at the July 18 event was deliberate, given the location. “This is the second capital of Maharashtra, which also houses the RSS headquarters. Nagpur is definitely important. We held a similar programme in Mumbai, and it will now be held across the state,” Raut said.
Responding to remarks from some Mahayuti leaders that the UBT has ‘finally remembered Ram’, Raut said the party’s connection with Lord Ram was old. “We are all accused in the movement we carried out for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. I have appeared before the CBI court 10 times as an accused,” he said.
