MUMBAI: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) Farooq Abdullah raised questions on Sunday about the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, questioning whether Lord Ram belongs exclusively to Hindus and is confined to a single temple.
Addressing a gathering on Madhu Dandavate’s birth anniversary, Abdullah expressed concern that Hindus, constituting 70 percent of India’s population, are being made to believe that they are in danger.
“Is Ram the god of only Hindus, the RSS, and the BJP? Is Ram present only in Ayodhya? And to go there, do you need an invitation? Lord Ram belongs to everyone. There are Ram temples everywhere, including in Jammu and Kashmir. Lord Ram resides in our hearts, in every particle, but we are not able to recognise him,” he said.
The J-K CM further said that if the people had recognised Lord Ram, there would have been no hatred.
“If we had recognized, there would have been no hatred. Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Ram Raj’, which meant equality. There are 70 per cent Hindus in our country; are they in danger? But it was made to believe that they were in danger…” he added.
The ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the new Ram Lalla idol will be held on January 22, which is set to be performed by Prime Minister Modi. The idol of Lord Ram in his child form, carved by Mysuru sculptor Arun Yogiraj, has been placed inside the sanctum santorum of the temple.
However, speaking about the election voting machine (EVM), Farooq Abdullah said that the country ‘failed to make the Election Commission independent”.
“When this voting machine (EVM) was brought, I was the CM of Jammu and Kashmir and in the cabinet, we had asked whether ‘chori’ (hacking) can be done in this machine? And they said yes it can be done. Then what was the need to bring this machine? This is our mistake. Today we are shouting ‘Machine chor hai’, who will listen to it… We should have made the Election Commission independent, but we did not do so…” he added.
