Dear Editor,
Pack of surprises and shocks is common in life. A young Muslim girl named Shabnam Shaikh has been walking from Mumbai to Ayodhya starting her journey from 21st December 2023 with her two friends Vineet Pandey and Raman Raj Sharma with saffron flag on hand greeting everyone with “Jai Sri Ram”. Her unwavering devotion to Lord Ram has prompted journey of 1425 kilometres. She has referred to herself Bharatiya Sanatani Muslim. Hateful comments in social media against her have not dented her mind in her continued journey on foot. The petitioner in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute Iqbal Ansari showered rose petals on the cavalcade of Modi in front of his house in the presence of his family members treating Modi as his guest since he had gone to the place of Ansari. The one who was supposed to nurse hatred and jealously for the construction of Ram Mandir has acted with sportsmanship spirit. It was a pleasant surprise. An 85-year old woman from Jharkhand vowed to be silent till Ram Lalla was installed in the birth place of Ram. Her endurance and determination to be silent for over 30 long years take anybody by surprise. Some of the Congress leaders have rebelled against Rahul Gandhi for declining the invite. They have left the party in anger. In fact the ire is misdirected against Rahul Gandhi because he is not the President of the party. Mallikarjuna Kharge who happens to be the President of the party should have been the target of attack for refusing to attend. But the leaders who have left have made it abundantly clear that Kharge’s writ does not run over Rahul Gandhi’s. Kharge is just puppet in the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Someone from non-Gandhi family is President to show that Gandhi family is not after power.
More surprising is the Muslim man sending holy water from Pak-occupied Kashmir’s Sharda Peeth Kund to Ayodhya via UK for Ram temple consecration ceremony. For the holy water to reach India, circuitous route was taken since the postal services were suspended between India and Pakistan since the Balakote airstrikes after the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack. The holy water has been reportedly collected by Tanveer Ahmed and his team. Save Sharda Committee Kashmir (SSCK)founder Ravinder Pandita says that his civil society member across the Line of Control carried it to Islamabad wherefrom it was sent to his daughter Magribi in the UK who in turn handed it over to Sonal Sher, a Kashmiri Pandit activist who came to Ahmedabad in August 2023. From there it reached Pandita. Later SSCK member Manjunath Sharma handed over the holy water to Vishwa Hindu Partishad (VHP) who in turn handed it over to Senior functionary Koteshwar Rao in Ayodhya on Saturday. What is shocking, not at all surprising, is that most of the constituents of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc declined the invite to Ayodhya. The surprising part of refusal to attend the consecration ceremony by the I.N.D.I.A. team is that they get alienated from the Hindus which could be nothing but shocking to them if the Hindus turn hostile to them while voting in the Lok Sabha election. Another surprise or shock in store is in the Lok Sabha election to be held shortly.
Congress government in Karnataka blatantly refused to sanction Holiday whereas the Congress government in Himachala Pradesh sanctioned full Holiday on 22nd January 2024.
K.V. Seetharamaiah
