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The Ram Temple in Ayodhya has enormous religious and emotional importance for Hindus in India, but recent controversy over embezzlement allegations has raised concerns about accountability. What is your take?
I will not talk about any individual or a single instance. Corruption has become so deep-rooted in society that it has reached the core.
But it’s a known fact that the BJP had supported the Ram temple movement. We believed that the Ram temple should be built, not through litigation but through consensus. The matter, however, reached the Supreme Court, and after years of hearings, the apex court decided that the Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya and Muslims should be given a piece of land. The SC also decided that a trust would build the temple. Who forms the trust? The government. So, whatever is happening in the trust is the responsibility of the government.
You have recently raised concerns about a music concert near the Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand. Where should the line be drawn between promoting tourism and culture and protecting the sanctity and the traditional character of a pilgrimage centre?
Badrinath is no ordinary place. Adi Shankaracharya chose it with great care and set its customs to connect North and South. Even today the Rawal of this temple comes from Kerala.
Our ancestors knew the Himalaya is fragile. Sound harms the ecology of this place; hence, even blowing the conch is forbidden at this site and large gatherings were avoided.
Kalidasa called the Himalaya devatatma (divine soul). What have you done to its divine soul? You have built multi-level parking? Organised DJ style music concerts? We agree that tourism makes money, but India never sold mother nature.
You have spoken for decades about the ecological and civilisational importance of the Himalayas. Is the current push for roads, tourism, pilgrimage infrastructure, and connectivity taking development beyond what the Himalayas can safely sustain?
Yes. The Himalaya is the most fragile mountain in the world; it’s like a child. You cannot load a child’s school bag above the limit he can handle.
Look at the cracked homes in Joshimath. You want Joshimath to become a Switzerland without considering the fact that Switzerland doesn’t have a fragile Himalaya.
The Ram Temple in Ayodhya has enormous religious and emotional importance for Hindus in India, but recent controversy over embezzlement allegations has raised concerns about accountability.