Cong criticises cleaning of Sankatmochan temple after Salman's visit

Lucknow, Mar 11 (UNI) Congress today slammed the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for ''cleansing'' Sankatmochan temple with 'Gangajal' after the visit of UPCC president Salman Khurshid.

The party claimed the move was aimed at creating communal discord in UP in the aftermath of the series bomb blasts.

Claiming the move only proved how shaky the RSS and its affiliates were, UPCC member Satyadev Tripathi said that the BJP was losing ground in UP, and thus now using such ploys to polarise the vote bank.

He claimed such moves were against the ethos of Indian culture.

''It was a humanitarian gesture on part of Congress that its state unit president visited the bomb blast site...so what if he is a Muslim, he is also very much a part of Indian culture,'' he added.

Mr Tripathi said the RSS functionaries cleaned up the area despite protests by temple priests, which proved they wanted to politicise the issue.

''BJP leader Vinay Katiyar was sitting on a dharna outside the temple without the consent of temple authorities. The men who cleaned the temple were also sitting with him,'' he maintained.

He regretted that despite a call by AICC president Sonia Gandhi against politicising the blasts, political parties had been ''going against the interests of humanity.'' ''If a senior RSS functionary could get his daughter married to BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and if former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could attend 'arti' at a temple with a Muslim woman then why could not Mr Khurshid visit a temple after the blast,'' he said.

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