Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday criticised the decision of the Somnath Temple trustees that non-Hindus have to receive special permission to enter the temple premises, and said “there seems to be a very strange kind of bigotry which is taking hold of liberal and a tolerant ethos called the Hindu faith”.
Speaking to ANI, Tewari said : “The essence of the Hindu faith is that you can be an agnostic and yet be a Hindu. The essence of the Hindu faith is that you can worship one out of the seven million gods.
Hinduism has never been constrained by a very narrow and a monotheistic interpretation. So, therefore, under those circumstances, Hindu scholars need to deliberate as to whether the decision of the
Somnath trust is correct or not.”
Earlier in the week, Shree Somnath Trust (SST), a religious trust which manages the temple, had put up three public notices at the main entrance and Digvijay Dwar which directed that non-Hindus will have to seek permission of the trust before entering the main temple.
Somnath Trust has eight trustees, four of whom are nominated by Gujarat government while the remaining four are nominees of the Central Government.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is incumbent chairman of the trust while Prime Minister Narendra Modi, veteran BJP leader L K Advani and retired chief secretary of Gujarat, Pravin Laheri are its trustees. (ANI)