Modi and Singhal: Pro-Jains?

Junagadh, December 7 All India Sadhu Samaj president (Gujarat Chapter) Mahant Gopalanand has come down heavily on Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal for his derogatory remarks on the sadhus of Gujarat, who have been tacitly campaigning against the Narendra Modi government.

Gopalanand said in a statement that while the VHP has been playing politics in the name of Hindutva, it has also misused the sadhus under the banner of Dharma Sansad and Hindu Jagaran.

He said the VHP under the leadership of Singhal, has mustered crores of rupees and gold bricks in the name of constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya, but it never made the account public, and since it has failed to construct the temple, the VHP should be considered as an anti-national, anti-society and anti-religious organisation.
"Ashok Shinghal himself is a Jain and in spite of being a Jain, he is the leader of a Hindu religious organisation (VHP). He (Ashok Shinghal) never bothered about Jain sadhus," Gopalanand said in his statement.
He said though the foundation-laying ceremony of the ambitious Girnar ropeway project in Junagadh has been completed thrice, it could not get started, because of the opposition of the Jains to this project. "This is because Jains are against this project and, Singhal and Modi are pro-Jains," he said.

He said during the last five years, many sadhus, including several VHP office-bearers have been murdered, but none of the accused have been convicted or punished by law. "Why is the VHP not raising this issue of sadhus' murder under the BJP rule? There are number of slaughter houses functioning in Gujarat, but why is the VHP keeping quiet?" he said.

Gopalanand declared his support to Sarsa-based sadhu Avichaldas for the latter's announcement to start an agitation and mobilise sadhus from across Gujarat against Singhal. Gopalanand said the VHP is playing dirty politics in the name of Hindu Jagaran and looting the country and the religious people.