The Asom Sattra Mahasabha and the state Congress are incensed over the alleged derogatory remarks against Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Xankardeb by an associate of yoga guru Ramdev while teaching yoga at Duni of Darrang district in Assam.
Yoga instructor Satinath Baral from Patanjali Yogapeeth had allegedly said Xankardeb was not a great scholar, the kirtan ghoxa is of no importance and that only the foolish light earthen lamps in the namghars.
A public apology has been demanded from Ramdev, said the Mahasabha’s secretary Kusum Kumar Mahanta and Assam PCC president Ripun Bora in separate news conferences here on Monday.
Mahanta demanded immediate arrest of Baral and exemplary punishment against him for the anti-Assamese comments, which supposedly denigrates “Jagat Guru” Srimanta Xankardeb, Madhav Guru, nam ghoxa and namghars. He also declared a boycott of Patanjali products till Ramdev apologises.
The Mahasabha on Monday filed an FIR at Dispur police station, demanding Baral’s arrest.
Mahasabha central committee executive member Pradip Barkhetriya told The Telegraph, “Baral should have stuck to teaching yoga. He has committed an unpardonable crime by denigrating the Jagat Guru. Exemplary punishment should be meted out to him so that others will think twice before making comments against Assamese culture and tradition. We will launch a movement against Patanjali. We are Vaishnavites and we cannot protest on the streets carrying placards. We demand that a namghar be built at Tamulpur and Azara where Patanjali is setting up plants. We will also move the state government to cancel the allocation of land to Patanjali for growing medicinal herbs. Instead the land should be handed over to the unemployed youths of Assam who are capable of growing medicinal plants themselves.”
Barkhetriya said an appeal would be made to the bania goshthi, the merchant community, to embrace Assamese culture and establish namghars in places where they carry on business.
PCC president Ripun Bora said, “This yoga instructor Satinath Baral is a disciple of Ramdev. He has dared to make such comments which insult Srimanta Xankardeb. Assamese life and culture have been insulted. We condemn and demand a public apology from Ramdev. The state BJP has no backbone, no courage to speak out against such individuals. They are afraid of offending Amit Shah. The BJP says one thing and does another. It plays with the sentiments of the people.”
Bora also promised to compete with the BJP’s “page” campaign by organising one-to-one interactions with the people and appointing 10 booth sahayogis in each of the 26,000 polling booths in the state.
Bora also outlined the future protests by sister organisations.
“The Mahila Congress and Seva Dal members will observe protests against the rise in price of LPG cylinders at every important crossroad and public place in the state from Wednesday. We will gherao Raj Bhavan on October 6 to protest the Rafale scam and other scams by the BJP. There is no coordination between the BJP party and the government,” Bora said.
Bora also promised to compete with the BJP’s “page” campaign by organising one-to-one interactions with the people and appointing 10 booth sahayogis in each of the 26,000 polling booths in the state.
