'PM should have said India is a country of Lord Ram, Krishna'

Indore, Dec 11: Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarkapeeth today took exception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's description of India as a country of Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi during his recent visit to the UK.

Speaking to reporters here, the Shankaracharya said, "Modi was unnerved because of the protests on the issue of intolerance and he termed India as a country of Buddha and Gandhi during his visit to the UK. Instead of that, he should have said that India is a country of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna."

"Modi, as the PM, has a great opportunity to end the corruption, which he should not waste," he said. Recalling Modi's statement during the Lok Sabha poll campaign that he would neither take bribe nor allow anyone to accept bribe, the Shankaracharya said, "Even today, can you file an FIR without bribing the police?"

The 91-year-old seer said that if Modi brings into force the uniform civil code, revokes Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, bans the cow slaughter and export of beef, then he would give him a "pat on the back".

He also objected to return of awards by the writers saying, "these writers did not deserve government awards. It's good thing that they had returned the awards. They had received awards from the governments which claimed to be secular."

To another question, he said that instead of any political party, all the devotees of Lord Ram (Rambhakt) in the country should unite to construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

He also reiterated his opposition to worship of Saibaba saying that it was against the tenets of "sanatan dharma". He also said that all kinds of reservation should be abolished and merit in all classes of society should gets its due.

PTI