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politics

Institute of Technology, MIT. They had the help of local villagers, comprising
submitted a proposal to Dr. Manmohan Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and many
Singh during his tenure as the Prime others. The temple was destroyed by
Minister, has embarked upon their mis- the invading forces of Nizam 275 years
sion. It remained a non-starter, though ago. Similarly, an aggressive mob of
they held a number of meetings from Hindu zealots had destroyed the Jum-
Ayodhya to Pune. ma Masjid and the Khawaja Zainuddin
These enlightened sections hope Dargah in 1940 too has been restored
that Priyanka may finally end this to become a centre of pilgrimage for
controversial issue, if she is convinced every one irrespective of their faiths as
that the Pune experiment of construct- a Temple of Harmony. In this context,
ing a huge place of worship, the tem- the teachings of India’s great saints,
ple of harmony, may be replicated in Dnyaneshwara, Tukaram and Vive-
Ayodhya. kananda guide us to the right path
Karad’s experiment to blend spir- through spiritualism.
itualism with science for the past more
than two decades awaits political en- The Christian card
dorsement. He is convinced that the Priyanka’s critic may take up the
science reflects the human yearning issue that she is married to a Christian,
to know the Unknown. The religions Robert Vadra, but it may not be able
too were complementing this quest to adversely impact on her political
career. Her marriage was solemnized
by a Kashmiri Pundit, Iqbal KIshen, the
With Priyanka leading grandson of Pundit Shamlal. Sham-
lal was the high priest of Jawaharlal
the campaign for the Nehru’s marriage with Kamla. Simi-
INC in Uttar Pradesh, larly, Indira Gandhi’s marriage with
Feroze Gandhi amidst chanting of
many predict it Vedic hymns had taken place under
may trigger off an the supervision of Pundit Laxmi Dhar,
a well-known Sanskrit scholar.
avalanche giving huge miri pundit wedding was never pub-
Asked why this traditional Kash-
number of seats to licised, RC Ganju, a senior journalist
the party, which once asserts that the family has always kept
these personal engagements as private
used to dominate the affairs. A lot of malicious campaign
politics of the state against them is in the social media, but
the family never responds to the wild
allegations. Maybe, they are convinced
fered a temple comprising the spiritual with spiritualism. He and his team that the people would never believe
components of all faiths. The initiative comprising many eminent people of in such campaigns against them.
has been taken by a group of academia academia, including Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, a A Congress insider confides that the
comprising Hindus and Muslims, who well-known computer scientist, Maul- BJP-RSS propaganda, in fact, re-invig-
have been working for making spir- ana Wahidulla Khan Ansari, an Islamic orates them politically. The prolonged
itualism a component of scientific re- scholar, and many others are actively malicious personal propaganda has
searches. With their successes in this campaigning for a temple of harmony. enabled both Rahul and Priyanka to
pursuit, they have now emboldened to They point out that the huge land al- occupy the centre-stage of the cam-
resolve the tackling the perennial tem- ready with the Union government in paign for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In this
ple-mosque dispute in Ayodhya. Ayodhya should take the initiative for backdrop, Priyanka’s arrival on the
It is a non-political secular initiative the temple construction. The apex court political scene unleashes new pros-
comprising former Nagpur University may allow this initiative. pects for the INC in UP, where its exist-
vice-chancellor S.N. Pathan and Pune- These enthusiasts have already suc- ence is negligible, but has a rich past.
based Dr. Vishwanath Karad, the cou- ceeded in reconstructing a temple of
rageous founder of the Maharashtra Lord Rama at Rui (Rameshwar) with letters@tehelka.com

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