The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seems to have woken up to a reality: demolition of temples in Jaipur by the state government. About 100 big and small temples, some as old as Jaipur, were demolished to facilitate construction of the metro railway and vehicular traffic here. And the Sangh is clearly not happy about it.
Visibly perturbed over the adverse public perception, state leaders of the Sangh and its affiliate socio-cultural bodies, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Hindu Jagran Manch, met over the weekend at Bharti Bhawan, the state RSS headquarters, and came out with a call for a two-hour long ‘chakka jam’ (traffic blockade) from 9 am to 11 am on July 9. Meanwhile, BJP’s joint generalsecretary V Satish was in Jaipur to discuss this development with party’s state leadership on Monday. A technical committee of RSS office bearers on Sunday and Monday surveyed the destruction of the city’s old temples and heritage. The fact-finding report – incorporating details of the demolished temples and damaged idols that were shifted under a roof, and the allurements allegedly offered to the priests of various temples – would be sent to the national headquarters of RSS at Nagpur, sources said. The report would also mention the objectionable roles played by the government officials involved and silence of the elected representatives over the “operation demolition”.
The RSS leadership on Saturday had summoned all the nine BJP legislators of the city, including state BJP president Ashok Parnami, three Cabinet ministers – Education Minister Kali Charan Saraf, Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Arun Chaturvedi and Urban Development Minister Raj-By Sudhanshu Mishra in Jaipur some temples force was used against the protesters and arrests were made, they pointed out. Meanwhile, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot took a dig at RSS leadership and called it a “drama staged jointly by the RSS-BJP”. “Had there been the Congress government and a single temple was touched in this manner they (RSS-BJP) would have protested like anything and communal riots would have been ignited,” he commented. “Waking up after a deep slumber they (RSS leadership) have come after everything has taken place. Where were they when the temples were being demolished?” he said.