A dispute among the sants and sadhus in Ayodhya on the keeping the shilas at Bara Sthan, after being donated to in-charge Ayodhya cell in the PMO Shatrughan Singh on Friday, has spilled out in the open. The two shilas were being kept at Bara Sthan or Dashrath Mahal in Ayodhya after Shatrughan Singh accepted these from Paramhans Ramchandra Das during the much-hyped Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)-sponsored 'shila daan' programme on Friday. A certain section of the sants and sadhus are opposed to keeping the carved stones at Bara Sthan and had handed over a memorandum to district magistrate to remove these immediately from the present location.
Mahant of Bara Sthan and chairman of the Manohar Wakf Trust Devendra Prasadacharya on Tuesday threatened that the shilas would be removed through a 'jan andolan' if they were not removed from the present site within two days. Prasadacharya said that a meeting of the trustees would be held soon to decide on the removal of the shilas.
''As I was out of Ayodhya on March 15, the shilas were kept in Ayodhya without my permission after forcing the pujari of Bara Sthan,” he maintained. He, however, said that the DM had assured him that the shilas would be removed to another place within the next three days.
Mahant Gyandas of the Hanumangarhi also took strong exception to keeping of the shilas at Bara Sthan and said that if the administration did not remove them, the sants would be forced to ''take law in their hands.'' A K Gupta, receiver of the acquired land and divisional commissioner of Faizabad, said that a letter in this connection has been sent to the PMO for approval to change the location of the carved stones. ''District magistrate V P Mishra had written a letter to Shatrughan Singh about the annoyance of the sants on the issue and had requested him to approve a new place to keep the carved stones,” Gupta added.
Meanwhile, Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das maintains that he was no more concerned with the shilas as it was now the 'headache' of the administration.
Bureau Report