New Delhi, India - In what could raise eyebrows in several circles, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mouthpiece Panchjanya has suggested that Dalits and other backward classes be trained and appointed as head priests at major temples in the country.
An editorial in the latest issue of the weekly exhorts Hindus to come together by erasing caste lines. The article, “Muslim vote politics on the banks of the Ganga”, says Hindus are responsible for the sad plight of their major places of worship. The overt implication -- that a lack of unity among the Hindu community has led to its customs and traditions being run to the ground.
The Panchjanya criticises a reported Iftar held by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Har ki Pauri ghat in Hardwar, a place held sacred by the majority community, earlier this month. That elections are round the corner in UP is pertinent, it points out. In this context, it also refers to “secular parties celebrating the arrest of Shankaracharya on Diwali night”.
“The time has come to strengthen Hindu unity and ensure that along with those priests who are born Brahmins, Dalits and other backward classes are trained and made priests. For this, the entire Hindu community must come together,” the editorial exhorts, promising the participation of swayamsevaks in such an exercise.
Apart from taking pot shots at “secular parties”, the article talks at length about religious tolerance that exists among most communities and blames vote politics for incidents that provoke extreme reaction by hurting the sentiments of one or the other community.