Puri Shankaracharya must apologise to Dalits for remarks on entry into temples: Pramod Krishnam

Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti president Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday condemned Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati for his alleged remarks on entry of Dalits into temples.

"Shankaracharya Nischalanand must tender unconditional apologies to the Dalit samaj for his statement exhorting ban on the entry of Dalits into temples," said Acharya Krishnam, who contested the last Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket.

No religious epic gives the right to any seer to discriminate among the masses and restrict their rights of entry to any temple or religious place on the basis of caste or creed, he added.

Acharya Krishnam, who was here to attend a religious ceremony along with Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, however, said "I am not in favour of registering an FIR against Shankaracharya Nischalananda".

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked Jharkhand police to register an FIR against the Puri Shankaracharya for his reported remarks made on Friday in Ranchi that Dalits should not enter temples.