Making fun of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his call to clean temples before the grand opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Saamana, Shiv Sena’s official mouthpiece, claimed in its latest editorial that even Lord Ram would be amused by the ‘drama.’
Titled ‘Cleaning the Broom,’ the editorial argued that PM Modi’s cleaning campaign and the response from Union ministers and top BJP leaders were just part of the party’s efforts to appeal to the majority ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Modi, who will oversee the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Shri Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22, initiated the cleaning campaign during a visit to the Kalaram Temple in Nashik on January 12.
Mocking PM Modi’s cleaning efforts at the temple, the Saamana editorial claimed that he was cleaning an already ‘shining’ floor.
“The BJP appears to be staging a drama across the country ahead of the Shri Ram Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya. Lord Shri Ram himself would probably be smiling if he watched this drama. BJP’s Union Ministers are cleaning temples across the country in preparation for the January 22 opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Even cabinet members and BJP leaders in various states are sweeping and mopping temples in the lead-up to the Ram Mandir Utsav. Is this part of a Pran Pratishtha ritual? However, what choice did BJP leaders have when Prime Minister Modi gave the orders? The PM initiated the cleaning campaign by mopping a temple floor in Nashik that was already shining,” the editorial stated.
Taking a dig at Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the editorial suggested that the cleaning focus should be on railway assets and infrastructure, as most trains, platforms, and toilets are ‘dirty.’
“Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Hanuman Setu Temple in Lucknow for a clean-up job. He visited the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and cleaned the floor. Union Minister Anurag Thakur also visited the Hanuman Temple in (Delhi’s) Connaught Place and picked up the broom to clean the floor. Another Union Minister, Ashwini Vaishnav, too, indulged in a similar clean-up at a temple in Bhubaneswar. However, our Railway Minister should have directed his efforts toward local trains, railway platforms, and toilets as they are very dirty. So the real clean-up job needs to be done at these places. However, he chose to take his eyes off the railway assets that are asking to be cleaned and mopped a temple floor instead,” the editorial read.
Highlighting the sacred significance of a broom in Hinduism, associated with Goddess Lakshmi, the column read, “The broom has a sacred place in the Hindu religion, and the drama around BJP leaders picking up brooms for cleaning temples was nothing but a distasteful act of political posturing with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections. Our Santan culture is clean and transparent. It is about the purity of one’s heart and soul.”
