Although it has been a few days since the immersion of the former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee’s ashes in major rivers, a point was brought forth by an RJD leader.
“Will the BJP leaders shave off their heads to complete the ash immersion ritual?”
The BJP leaders were put in a spot as they are facing pressures from the opposition party to shave their heads.
In Hindu culture, it’s mandatory for those carrying ashes of the dead to shave their heads to let the post-death rituals complete.
RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari on Sunday said that the BJP leaders must perform all the post-death Hindu rituals for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, including tonsuring.
“There is a ritual called dashkarm and a family member of the deceased is supposed to perform it,” Tiwari said. “In dashkarm people go for mundan (tonsure)…. Until the dashkarm is done, the ritual is incomplete. How will these BJP leaders mourn the death of Vajpayeeji without dashkarm? It would be inauspicious.”
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Earlier, Tiwari had alleged that BJP is trying to gain sympathy votes in the name of Vajpayee ahead of the general election.
“I will expect all the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to go for tonsure and they should also cut their nails,” Tiwari said on Sunday. “The present lot of BJP leaders already considers Vajpayee ji as their guardian and I expect them to do dashkarm followed by organizing Brahmin bhoj in their respective Assembly and parliamentary constituencies.”
A BJP leader voiced out his anger against Tiwari.
“What can he say about the Hindu religion? He is the person who did not do any rituals when his father Ramanand Tiwari passed away,” said Bihar BJP spokesperson Sanjay Singh Tiger. “He is the person who protested against Hindu rituals. He is making such statements to earn brownie points from Lalu ji.”
Tiger said Tiwari has lost his thinking power in old age.
In Bihar, thousands of BJP leaders and workers have been caught on cameras taking the urns to the streets, paying floral tributes and then immersing them in the rivers. Some six rivers were chosen for immersing the ashes of the late prime minister in Bihar. But the move has left the leaders in fairly new dilemma with the opposition raising questions over their real intention.
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