I am most happy and grateful for the
opportunity you have given me to meet you all this evening. As you know the
Government of India and Provincial Governments concerned have taken great pains
and incurred heavy expenditure this year to improve the approaches and also the
localities where the sacred Budhist places are situated. The total amount spent
may add up to a crore of rupees in the course of this year. That indicates the
interest which the Government of India and the people of India are taking in
Budhism and its sacred places.
You have been good enough to mention some
points which I shall hav looked into. I will try to see that as far as possible
no complaints are left unattended. You have mentioned Bodha Gaya. I have been
personally connected with Bodha Gaya affair for a pretty long time. More than
35 years ago a deputation of Budhists from j Ceylon and Burma came here. It
wanted to have control of the Bodha Gay temple. AT that time, though the Congress had nothing to do with th Government , it took up the matter and
appointed a committee to make suggestions as to how best the Bodha Gaya temple
could be managed in the interest of all and to the satisfaction of the
Budhists. The Committee, of which I happened to be Secretary at the time,
recommended that the management of the temple should be placed in the hands of
a committee on which Budhists as well as Hindus should be represented. That was
because the Hindus also worshiped the BHudha . Their method of worship may
differ from that of the Budhists but they held Lord Budha in great veneration
as one of the Avatars. We could not do anything at the time as there was a
Mahant in actual possession of the temple and he did not agree to part with his
right. In 1937, however, when the Congress for the first time formed Government
in Bihar, it took up the question of the appointment of a temple committee once
again. Unfortunately, however, the Ministry lasted only a short time and
nothing much could be achieved. In 1946, the Congress again came to power.