Two religious heads from traditional Hindu monasteries (mutts) have opposed Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi’s bid for premiership, calling him a ‘grave sinner’ trying to ‘mislead’ the nation.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the two pontiffs questioned Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots and his use of ‘illegal money’ in the current elections.
Swami Adhokshjan Devtirth, who heads the Puri peeth (seat) of the Advaita School of Hindu Philosophy, said he would travel to Varanasi in the first week of May to campaign against Modi among the city’s religious establishment. He said he would visit the key institutions of Kashi Vidyat Parishad, Varanasi ‘mattadhish’ and Adi Shankarcharya Dharmothyan Sansad. He said he would extend an invitation to Islamic scholars too.
Devtirth said, “For me Modi is a grave sinner who has committed the highest sin in Hinduism-murder. He has blood on his hands and face.” Modi is often accused of giving rioters a freehand at that time but inquiries have found insufficient evidence to charge him.
Head of the religious school’s Dwarka seat, Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, has accused Modi of giving the wrong impression to people about his ‘humble origins’. ‘Modi today is not a tea-seller but a wealthy billionaire,” he said in a statement.
Saraswati had earlier raised objections to ‘Har Har Modi’, a slogan used by Modi’s campaigners, because it was a rip-off of a religious incantation for Hindu God Shiva.
Established religious leaders from the ‘mutts’ feel Hinduism has been misused by BJP said Universal Association of Spiritual Association head Pandit NK Sharma.
