As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday indulged in blame-game over the demolition of ancient Guru Ravi Dass temple in Delhi’s Tuglakabad area, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has sought the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter.
Capt Amarinder has appealed Modi to talk to his Sikh Union Minister Hardeep Puri to resolve tensions triggered among the Ravidas community by the demolition, while extending the legal and financial aid to Ravidas community to pursue matter and rebuild Temple at the same site.
AAP’s Punjab unit severely criticized Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government at the Centre for the demolition on the orders of the Supreme Court, while the SAD lashed out at AAP-led Delhi Government for betraying the Ravidasia community by refusing to intercede to save the demolition of a 500-year-old temple.
Capt Amarinder chose to intervene followed by the state-wide protests by the members of the Ravidasia community, under the banner of the Guru Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti, which has called for nationwide bandh on August 13 and announced observing August 15 as a ‘Black Day’.
Taking serious note of the protests, the Chief Minister said that while he did not wish to comment on the Supreme Court judgement, which had led to razing of the religious structure, he was personally not in favour of demolition of monuments or structures of such historical importance, connected so deeply with the sentiments of any community.
At the same time, he appealed to the community to call off their protests as his Government was ready to extend its full support to them to get the matter amicably resolved with the Central Government.
While appealing to the Prime Minister to step in for the resolution of the sensitive issue, Capt Amarinder also personally spoke to the Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to seek re-allotment of the same site, which reportedly belongs to the Delhi Development Authority, to enable the community to reconstruct the temple and along with the Sarovar, which have been demolished.
Legends say that Guru Ravidas visited the sacred place around 1509 during the reign of Sikander Lodhi.
Extending all legal and financial assistance to the community to take the matter forward and rebuild the demolished structures at the same place, the Chief Minister has constituted a five-member committee to meet the religious and political representatives of the Community and formulate a comprehensive strategy to resolve the issue with the Centre.
The committee consists of Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, Punjab Cabinet Ministers — Charanjit Singh Channi and Aruna Chaudhary, and Congress’ MLAs from Punjab — Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Sushil Kumar Rinku.
Underlining the need to uphold the sanctity of the site, which has importance not only for Ravidas community but all Sikhs and Punjabis the world over, the Chief Minister said that the demolition of the temple could trigger serious unrest in the community, not just in Punjab but in other places too.
It was essential to resolve the matter urgently, taking all the concerned parties, including DDA, into confidence with respect to the vast pool of legal and other evidence of proof the historic and religious links of the site with Sri Guru Ravidas ji himself.
The Chief Minister said that given the gravity and sensitivity of the matter, it was imperative that the central government, led by the prime minister himself, take all possible steps to restore the site to its original structure and layout.
Meanwhile, an official spokesperson said that the Chief Minister had taken cognisance of the issue amid protests by Dalits at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Gurdaspur and Amritsar, where several state highways were blocked, causing hardship to commuters.
The protesters, led by Sri Guru Ravidas Sadhu Sampardai Society chairman Sant Mohinderpal Pandwa, also blocked the National Highway-1 opposite the Shiromani Guru Ravidas Temple near Chak Hakeem village on the Phagwara-Jalandhar stretch.
BJP SHALL HAVE TO PAY HEAVY PRICE: AAP
AAP’s Punjab unit on Sunday severely criticized DDA, which is under Centre’s control, and Modi-led Central Government at the Centre for the alleged demolition of the ancient Guru Ravi Dass temple.
Coming down heavily upon the DDA and the Centre for the demolition of the historic temple, AAP MLAs led by the leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, said that the act had hurt religious sentiments of a large number of followers and others across the country.
“Protests were held in various parts of Punjab by various religious and other organizations condemning the act, which is a tantamount to denigrating the authority of religious institutions in the country,” they said.
KEJRIWAL HAS BETRAYED RAVIDASIA COMMUNITY: SAD
Blaming the AAP-led Delhi Government for the demolition, SAD’s Doaba MLAs — Pawan Kumar Tinu, Dr Sukhwinder Kumar and Baldev Khara, besides the former minister Sohan Singh Thandal said that the Ravidasia community had approached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal one month back on the issue.
SAD leaders said that the Ravidasia community was engaged in a long battle to save the temple and the AAP Government was following in the footsteps of the erstwhile Congress government which had created the issue.
They declared that SAD would meet party president Sukhbir Badal on Monday to urge him to take up the matter with the Central Government.