Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Spiritual guru Moraridas Prabhudas Hariyani, popularly known as Morari Bapu, kicked up a row when over 200 sex workers from Mumbai’s biggest brothel, Kamathipura, thronged the temple town of Ayodhya on Saturday to attend his discourse after getting a personal invite from him. Morari Bapu will narrate Ram Katha in temple town from Saturday to next Sunday.

In the wake of the presence of sex workers in huge numbers, hard-line religious leaders, seers and Mahants were up in arms in the temple town. However, Murari Bapu stood his ground by reasoning out that Tulsi Das too refers to ‘ganikas’ (sex workers) in the epic Ramcharit Manas.

“I am not doing anything new. Tulsidasji has himself mentioned about ‘ganikas’ in Manas and has talked about their emancipation. Those who have read Ramcharit Manas must be aware of this fact,” said Bapu. He added that he got the inspiration from Lord Hanuman to narrate the ‘katha’ (story) of those who were

abandoned and neglected in the society.

“Lord Ram’s entire life was a narration of liberation and acceptance. I am humbly trying to follow his footsteps,” said the spiritual guru. As per the media reports, Morari Bapu had visited the streets of Kamathipura, red light area of Mumbai, to interact with sex workers last week and invited them for his Katha in Ayodhya from December 22-30.

Bapu had also instructed his aides to arrange lodging and boarding, free of cost, for the entire duration of Katha. It is noteworthy that Manas Ganika is based on the interaction of Tulsidas with a sex worker ‘Vasanti’ who used to live on the outskirts of Ayodhya. He added that his event in Ayodhya has nothing to do with the ongoing debate on Ram Mandir issue and he is the strong advocate of peace.

However, saints and seers were agitated over the presence of sex workers in Ayodhya. Jyotishacharya of Jyotish Sansthan, Pravin Sharma, General Secretary of Ayodhya Sant Samiti, Pawan Shastri, former members of district panchayat, Santosh Dubey, Satish Vaidik and Acharya Ajit Das expressed their

displeasure over the development.

They claimed that it was a step taken for media attention and nothing else. “We are not opposing his katha and discourse, but Morari Bapu has invited sex workers from Mumbai to hog the limelight,” they said.

“People are discussing the sex workers more than Bapu’s discourse in Ayodhya. It is maligning the image of the temple town,” said the protestors. They even urged the district administration to ban the programme.