Buddhist monks have come out in support of the Prime Minister after Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge raised questions about Prime Minister Modi’s faith in Buddhism.
Monk Sheelratan of the International Buddhist Research Institute, called the remarks made by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge as “baseless and wrong” regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “faith” in Buddhism.
“The statement given by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is baseless and wrong. Since PM Modi’s government came to power, the work that has been done for Buddhism in the country has not been done by any government to date. For the first time after the independence of the country, due to the work of PM Modi, all our Buddhist centres in UP were given international airports. People who used to come from foreign countries now land directly in our Kushinagar. PM Modi’s and CM Yogi’s govts are continuously working for the welfare of Buddhism,” Monk Sheelratan said.
Buddhist monk founder & president of Mahabodhi International Meditation Center, says, “I want to express my sincere gratitude to PM Narendra Modi in my personal capacity for what he has done for the Buddhist people in India. I don’t remember how many PMs and govt, earlier, have given and supported the Buddhist cause in India. PM Modi has done a lot for Buddhism. He has laid the foundation stone of the International Buddhist Centre in Lumbini and has given us a special flight to let Buddha relics to different countries like Thailand… Wherever he goes he talks about Buddhism. In the United Nations he said “Bharat ne duniya ko Buddha diya hai, yuddh nahi”.
Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Baudh Sangh president Bhante Sanghpriya Rahul condemned the remarks made by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly questioning his “faith” in Buddhism.
“Mallikarjun Kharge’s remark is condemnable. For the first time in 2014, PM Modi celebrated the birthday of Lord Buddha at Talkatora Stadium, which was the first time after independence that a Prime Minister celebrated Lord Buddha’s birthday. When he was Gujarat CM, he had a statue of Buddha inside the Assembly and also at CM’s residence,” Bhante Sanghpriya Rahul said.
“I want to ask Mallikarjun Kharge when Manmohan Singh’s government was in power, why did you not pay attention to Buddha, why did you not celebrate Buddha?” he added.
In an interview, Kharge, who is a follower of Buddhism, delved into the inauguration ceremony of Buddha Vihar in Karnataka’s Gulbarga in 2009, which was established by the Siddharth Vihar Trust of which he is the founder-chairman.
He stated that Buddha is considered the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. However, in Uttarakhand, a person interested in adopting Buddhism has to visit the District Magistrate. The country’s established religions are in this situation due to Prime Minister Modi not considering Buddhism as a religion.