On Ram's Pran Pratistha, Rajasthan Minister Vows One-meal A Day Fast Till Grand Krishna Temple is Built in Mathura

Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar on Monday vowed to eat only one meal a day till a grand temple is constructed in the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

“Unless a magnificent temple on the birthplace of Lord Sri Krishna is constructed, I will eat only once a day, beginning today,” Dilawar said at a felicitation event in Ramganj Mandi, his constituency in Kota.

Dilawar recalls how he along with Dr Kirorilal Meena, now a state cabinet minister, and hundreds of kar sevaks staged a demonstration in Ayodhya in 1992 against the illegal detention and fabricated charges of murder against their colleagues.

WHO IS MADAN DILAWAR

Dilawar, a six-time MLA and three-time minister, had in February 1990 also vowed that he would not accept or wear garland till the Ram Temple is constructed in Ayodhya.

On Monday, after the consecration ceremony was over at Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he was offered a 34 kg garland, and another, 108 feet in length, by his supporters. Dilawar however refused to wear the garlands saying he would wear it when he visits the temple in Ayodhya on January 31.

Also, in February 1990, he had vowed that he would not sleep in bed until Article 370 pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped. It is claimed that he slept on a mat since then, till the contentious Article was revoked in 2019, when he finally took to bed.

WHAT IS KRISHNA JANMABHOOMI-SHAHI IDGAH MASJID DISPUTE?

The Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura was built on the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb adjacent to the Krishna Janmasthal — believed to be the place where Lord Krishna was born.

Hindu parties to the litigation claim that the 17th-century Mughal-era Mosque was built after demolishing a temple at the birthplace of the Lord Krishna. The demand was admitted by a local court in December last year but the Muslim side had filed an objection in the High Court.

The Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah case is the second temple-mosque dispute in which the high court has allowed to conduct a survey over the past months.

(with PTI inputs)