In a sharp reaction to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s claim that the Badrinath temple had been built after destroying a Buddhist shrine, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday accused the Opposition alliance of holding the ideology of Islamic extremist groups.
As a member of the “Mahagathbandhan” — a reference to the Opposition’s INDIA coalition — Mr. Maurya’s statement showed the “anti-national and anti-religion thinking of the Congress and its allies, said Mr. Dhami. “This view also reveals the dominance of the ideology of SIMI and PFI within these parties,” he added, referring to the Students’ Islamic Movement of India and the Popular Front of India, both of which are radical Muslim groups banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2019.
Noting that the Badrinath temple, one of the four shrines of Char Dham, was the “centre of faith of crores of devotees”, Mr. Dhami said that Mr. Maurya’s remarks were “unfortunate”. He also asked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to take action against such SP leaders who keep on hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.
On Wednesday, Mr. Maurya had claimed that Badrinath had been a Buddhist religious place till the eighth century, and that the temple there had been built after destroying the Buddhist shrine.
The SP leader’s comment came as a court in Varanasi asked the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the Gyanvyapi mosque, after petitioners approached the court saying that the mosque was once a Hindu temple.
“Is the faith of others not important? That’s why we had said that no one’s faith should be hurt. We could have avoided all the disputes on such issues by considering the status of any religious place on August 15, 1947. Otherwise, one should be ready to accept the historical truths. Badrinath was a Buddhist monastery till the 8th century, after that this Badrinath Dham was made a Hindu pilgrimage site, this is true,” Mr. Maurya said.
