Priest on hunger strike demanding Ram temple rushed to hospital

He initially denied treatment, but was administered saline late on Monday night

Mahant Paramhans Das, who had been on a hunger strike for the past week demanding construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, was shifted to Lucknow in an ambulance on Saturday night after his condition deteriorated.

He was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. He initially denied treatment, but was administered saline late on Monday night.

On Sunday evening, BJP leaders and as government officials had tried to convince him to abandon his protest, but he refused.

A bulletin released by the hospital’s chief medical superintendent Amit Agarwal at 5 pm on Monday stated, “Paramhans Das ji is still admitted in post-op ICU at SGPGI. His condition is critical with symptoms like ketone bodies found in urine, low sugar component in blood.” “His doctors tried their best to convince him to take medication but he denied,” said the evening bulletin.

Government sources said Cabinet Minister Satish Mahana had also met Paramhans Sunday night and made him speak to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath but the priest had refused to abandon his hunger strike.

Late Monday night, however, he was administered saline.

Meanwhile, Ram Janmabhoomi Trust chief Nritya Gopal Das Monday said no one can stop construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, according to a PTI report.