BJP's debacle was caused by divine curse: Shankaracharya

BJP's debacle was caused by divine curse: Shankaracharya

Sunday June 13 2004 01:11 IST

IANS

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PATNA: Why did the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lose the

parliamentary elections? The answer: divine curse!

So says Nischalanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Puri and a

prominent Hindu religious leader.

"It is nothing but divine curse," he said here.

The Shankaracharya said the BJP paid the price for failing to fulfil

the promise of building a Ram Temple at the site of the demolished

Babri mosque in the Uttar Pradesh town of Ayodhya.

He said the "divine curse" followed the BJP decision to ditch Hindus.

The Shankaracharya was here in the course of a Bihar tour and

attended several functions.

The Puri Shankaracharya has often courted controversy, at times by

speaking out in favour of social evils like sati, the ancient custom

of widows burning themselves on their husband's funeral pyres.

He has been making an impassioned plea to the young against marrying

out of love, saying this involves blindly aping the West and could

harm Indian culture.

He claims love marriages are not good for the health of Indian

society.