As RJD drags caste is Ayodhya, they forget that Hanuman Mandir in Patna has a Dalit priest

Suryavanshi Phalahari Das, the Dalit priest in 300-year-old Hanuman Temple in Patna (image: livemint)

Many people on Sunday tried to trend ‘राममंदिरकापुजारीकौन'(who will be the priest in Ram Mandir), thereby hinting that Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is a ‘Brahminical project’.

https://twitter.com/TheIntr20433770/status/1193536199618486272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/ambedkariteIND/status/1193532914027225093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/Shashi4aisa/status/1193560917469872128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
ThePrint journalist who bullied Twitter into giving him a blue tick after accusing the social media platform of being casteist, also joined in.

https://twitter.com/dilipmandal/status/1193525323108884485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/dilipmandal/status/1193526246690439169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Converting anything about Hindus into something about ‘caste’ is what the Left excels in. The Left likes to increase the caste divide by camouflaging its Hinduphobia under the cloak of ‘fight against Brahminical forces’.

Read: Columnist working for ‘blue tick Baniya’ Shekhar Gupta attacks Twitter for not giving blue ticks to Dalits

Prominent people from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) like Sanjay Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly and Political Advisor to RJD MLA Tejashwi Yadav, also joined in. Yadav tweeted that everyone in India is curious to know who would be the pujari (priest) at the temple once it is constructed at the Ram Janmabhoomi.

https://twitter.com/sanjuydv/status/1193550030113669120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yadav wondered if in the new, inclusive India, especially the one headed by PM Modi who has called for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’, will there be a non-Brahmin priest in the Ram Mandir.

However, in his mad rush to show solidarity with an imaginary cause, RJD conveniently forgot that in Bihar, right in the capital city of Patna nearly a dozen temples have had a Dalit priest decades now. 300-year old Mahavir Mandir has a Dalit priest, Suryavanshi Falahari Das, who assumed his role as early as 1993. In fact, none of these moves had any kind of protest from any part of the society.

Moreover, there is further linkage of this Hanuman temple in Patna to the Ram temple in Ayodhya. In fact, not only did ex-IPS officer Kishore Kunal played an important role in bringing about this social change, but he was also instrumental in drawing up the Ram Mandir map which Rajeev Dhavan, the lawyer for Muslim parties, had torn up in the Supreme Court during the day-to-day hearing. The Mahavir Trust in Patna headed by him has decided to give Rs 10 crore to Ram temple. The trust has also announced free food langar that will be run by Hanuman Mandir all through the year.

Read: Ayodhya case: Twitter erupts with jokes after Rajeev Dhavan, advocate representing Muslim side has a dramatic meltdown in Court

Kishore Kunal was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in 1990 by the Home Ministry under VP Singh government for handling Ayodhya issue. He was entrusted with the responsibility of mediating between Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Babri Masjid Action Committee in the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute. The Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust (BMMT) under his leadership is also building a Virat Ramayan Temple which will be the biggest in the world. He has said that the proposed temple in East Champaran district in Bihar would be bigger than the 12th century Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia