Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Udupi, Nov 26: International working president of VHP Pravin Togadia on Saturday November 25 called for an end to untouchability and said people of scheduled castes should be allowed to enter every temple in every village.
Addressing day 2 of 'Dharma Sansad', Togadia said, "The motto of Hindu Dharma is that we are all one. Untouchability should not be practised. India should become untouchability-free nation. Every individual is divine, everyone should be treated like divine. Though untouchability has reduced today, it is still in practice. There is a need to eradicate it completely.
"For this purpose, people of scheduled castes should be allowed to enter every temple in every village, and be allowed to have meals together. They are also part of the Hindu family. We kept them away earlier in the name of untouchability, for which we need to do penance now. We should respect and honour them. Our country should be rid of poverty and untouchability. We need harmony, unity, equality and prosperity in society.
"People of SC community are to be treated like divine souls. We need a nation free from untouchability, where no child is deprived of education, no youth is unemployed. When we achieve this goal, no farmer will surrender to the noose," Togadia said.
"A separate Hindu Parivar Mitra plan will be executed to strengthen the bond with scheduled caste community. The plan will be chalked out and executed under the direction of saints and sadhus. Once this is executed, untouchability will be completely eradicated," he added.
"Hindus respect women and worship her in the form of Goddess Durga. This applies to SC girls also. We worship women or girls with 'pada puja'. Girls of both Brahmin and SC communities should be invited for pada puja. Let us perform pada puja of both with equal respect. By this, discrimination will end. Let us respect girls of both communities equally without any caste discrimination.
"There are SC girls who are deprived of education, and those who are unable to get married. Let us help them, so that no SC girls will remain unmarried or without education. Let VHP work seriously on eradicating untouchability as per the direction of saints. Through Dharma Sansad, we will take pledge on certain issues after considering everyone's opinions," Togadia said.
Speaking on the issue of Ram Mandir, he said, "The movement for Ram Mandir was taken up by sadhus and saints. When the time had come to lay foundation stone for the construction of Ram Mandir, devotees discussed about who would do the honour, whether Shankaracharya, Madhwaracharya or any other spiritual leader. But finally the foundation was laid by a scheduled caste man named Kameshwar Chaupal from Bihar."