The RSS on Tuesday reiterated its stance that it will not push for the “liberation” of Kashi and Mathura temples, where mosques exist alongside, even as the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad passed a resolution at a meeting in Prayagraj that it would take up the issue.
Senior RSS sources said the stance had been made clear by RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat when the Ramjanmabhoomi verdict came last year, that “agitations” were not the main focus of the organisation, which was more into a “man-making mission.”
“It is not the focus of the RSS to agitate but to concentrate on man-making, and fostering social unity,” Mr. Bhagwat said that time; the stance was repeated to The Hindu when the ABAP’s resolution was raised.
Ramjanmabhoomi, said the sources, had a background and was a matter of faith across the country, making it an exceptional issue in which the RSS was deeply involved. Mr. Bhagwat, at that time, also said the verdict was “not a question of victory or defeat” but of unity “everyone has to come together to build the temple.”
The ABAP is an organisation of Hindu seers, comprising 14 akharas or orders of Hindu seers, including the Nirmohi Akhara that was involved in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
For consensus
On a question of whether, after the abrogation of Article 370 and the start of the construction of Ram temple, the RSS would push for a uniform civil code in India, RSS sources said there was need to build consensus around it.
The three issues - abrogating Article 370, Ram temple construction and the uniform civil code have been core issues of the Sangh Parivar.
“In principle who wouldn’t want a uniform civil code. But there is need to build consensus, as something that unites the country cannot be polarising,” said a source.
