Monks paying floral tributes to Lord Buddha BR Ambedkar during the ‘Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi Mahavihar Mukti Andolan’ conference in Kalaburagi on Saturday. , Photo credit: ARUN KULKARNI
Bhante Vinachayra, a monk who leads the Mahabodhi Mahavihara Mukti Andolan, has appealed to the people of the state to participate in large numbers in the “Bodh Gaya Liberation Movement” to be held in Delhi on February 12, 2026, demanding that the government repeal the BT Act, 1949 and hand over the Mahabodhi temple.
He was addressing the Dhamma-Dhwaj Panchasheel Dhamma Yatra rally here on Saturday.
Bhante Vinacharya said that the struggle for Mahabodhi was a struggle for liberation and justice. It was a struggle against Brahmanism, whose basic principles of inequality and discrimination directly threatened the peaceful and egalitarian societies that Buddhism sought to cultivate.
Claiming that Buddhism is the world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam, the monk said that unfortunately the Bodhi Temple – one of Buddhism’s holiest sites – is managed by a committee that includes members of the Buddhist and Hindu faiths.
Emphasizing the uniqueness of Bodh Gaya, Bhante Vinacharya said that famous religious structures were identified only with the birth or death of saints or holy figures, while Bodh Gaya was the sacred place where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment after meditating continuously under the Bodhi tree for six years.
Recalling the traces of the Bodhi Temple Liberation Movement, the monk said that the campaign to “liberate Bodh Gaya from other faiths” was led by Anagarika Dhammapala, a Sri Lankan Buddhist woman, in 1891. Later, Devapriya Valisinha led the Bodhi Temple Liberation Campaign under the auspices of the Mahabodhi Society.
During this period, he argued that the Buddhist population was very negligible in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while it was small but significant in states like Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal. He also appreciated the contributions of Karnataka Buddhists during the movement in its initial phase.
He said that the Mahabodhi is a continuous thread in the history of Buddhism not only in India but throughout the Buddhist world.
Mauryan Emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism in 263 BC after the Kalinga War and Babasaheb Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in a ceremony called Dhamma Deeksha in Nagpur on 14 October 1956.
Bhante Vinacharya appealed to Buddhists and followers of Ambedkar to join the movement for the liberation of Bodhi Temple in Delhi on February 12, 2026. “We need to promote solidarity among Buddhists across India on this issue,” he said.
Bhante Payyananda of Latur, Maharashtra, Bhante Amarjyothi of Belamagi Buddha Vihar, Bhante Vara Jyothi of Anadur Buddha Vihar, Bhante Yash of Solapur, Bhante Dhamma Deepa and Bhante Sangharakshith of Bidar.
Published – 25 Oct 2025 21:18 IST
