Temple activist wants to keep Hindutva alive

Mahant Avaidyanath, head of the Gorakhnath Math, is 98, but age and failing health have not weakened his resolve to “revive Hindutva and protect Hindus.”

The BJP, the party he supports, says development and good governance are its planks in the Lok Sabha election. But the Mahant, who was at the forefront of the Ram temple movement in Ayodhya, asserts that the election is an opportunity to reclaim the “shrinking space for Hindus in India.”

“We are fighting the elections on the agenda of revival of Hindutva and protection of Hindus who are in danger. If Hindus are threatened in India, where in the world will they be safe?” asks the four-time MP from here, who has been leading the revival and propagation of right-wing Hindu nationalism.

“We will support anyone who agrees with, and follows, our Hindutva philosophy, even if they are our enemies,” he told The Hindu in an exclusive conversation at his residence here.

The senior Mahant of the Math was earlier a Hindu Mahasabha leader.

Dismissing allegations that Mr. Modi and the BJP are “divisive” and “communal,” the Mahant says: “Anyone who tries to revive Hindutva, anyone who speaks up for Hindus is perceived as communal by the people who are essentially just enemies of Hindus and Hindutva.”

The Mahant, whose disciple Yogi Adityanath, sitting BJP MP from Gorakhpur, has succeeded him, says the Math’s main concern today is to “keep Hindutva alive.”

Source:The Hindu