Current Events
India’s President And His Wife,
Who Hail From a Hindu “Low Caste”
Manhandled, Barred From Hinduism’s Highest Temple
DEBABRATA MOHAPATRA, Times of India
Bhubaneshwar, India
Indians are staggering over the news just released that harassment was meted out to the country’s President Ram Nath Kovind and his wife Savita during their maiden visit to the Jagannath Temple on March 18, 2018 this year.
India’s President and his wife belong to what Hinduism calls “the Untouchables”. They hail from a Hindu Dalit (“low”) caste.
More than three months later, the government has taken no action to correct the outrage.
A group of temple staff had blocked the President’s path near the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine and shoved the president’s wife, say the minutes of a March 20 meeting held by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
On March 19, the Presidential administration had sent a strong note of protest against the temple priests’ conduct to Puri collector Aravind Agarwal. The minutes of the SJTA meeting came to light on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
SJTA chief administrator, IAS officer Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, admitted that the President and his wife were pushed around inside the temple but refused to comment further. “We discussed the matter at a meeting of the temple managing committee a few days ago. It is being investigated,” he said … but only after the incident came to light 15 weeks later.
Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) MP and BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb … himself an apologist for the Hindutva-ridden government … said the Collector (head bureaucrat of the district administration) had started an investigation. “The temple administration is also probing the matter,” he added.
Despite repeated attempts, the Collector was not available for comment.
On March 18, the temple was kept out of bounds for devotees from 6.35 am to 8.40 am, ostensibly to ensure smooth darshan for the dignitaries. A handful of servitors and government officers were allowed to accompany Kovind and his wife inside the temple.
“We can’t understand why the district administration failed to prevent the unpleasant situation. Until now, only common devotees were exploited by the servitors. Now it seems not even the President is spared,” said Congress leader Suresh Routray.
[Courtesy: Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]
June 28, 2018
Conversation about this article
1: Gurbachan Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 28, 2018, 12:51 PM.
This is one of a thousand good reasons why our Gurus rejected every aspect of Hinduism and freed us from their despicable brahminical practices for ever.
2: Sahib Kaur (New York, USA), June 28, 2018, 12:54 PM.
Actually, this is the very same temple, Jagannath Puri, where Guru Nanak witnessed the Brahmins and their bizarre rituals ... and in response to what he saw, he composed the beautiful Aarti shabad which we recite every night as part of the Kirtan Sohela.
3: Japwant Kaur (Illinois, USA), June 28, 2018, 12:57 PM.
So true. Hinduism remains locked into its primitive superstitions, while we Sikhs have been liberated. Now, our task is to remain liberated!
4: Norm Hinkley (Syracuse, New York, USA), June 28, 2018, 1:54 PM.
Somebody once put it so succinctly: Let's put a fence around India, declare it a zoo, and sell tickets to the world!
5: Hitpal Singh (New Zealand), June 29, 2018, 11:08 AM.
Idiots! Why did you miss the opportunity of pouring hot, melting lead into the ears of the visitors? It's the prescribed punishment for untouchables who thus offend the Brahmins, as per the Hindu scriptures!
6: Gurjender Singh (Maryland, USA ), June 30, 2018, 12:47 PM.
This incident reminds me of the old days when India's then President, Gianni Zail Singh, a Sikh, went to a Hindu temple in Tripathi. He had to remove all his cloth and asked to wear a dhoti ... but was given special permission to wear his turban. Beside this, during the 1984 Genocide, the same President of India had to take shelter in the back seat of his car when a mob attacked him when he was visiting the hospital where Indira Gandhi had been taken.
7: GC Singh (USA), July 01, 2018, 8:52 PM.
The Brahmin Hindu gang has been the enemy of Sikhi for more than five centuries, when Guru Nanak forcefully rejected the basic foundation of Hindutva's casteist and racist ideology based on Manusmriti. He strongly castigated the Brahmin for this most cruel and inhuman practice which has kept millions under bondage. He preached the equality of mankind and this message is repeated again and again in Guru Granth Sahib. "Recognize the Light that is present in all. Do not ask anyone's caste as there is no caste under God’s domain" [GGS:349].