Lucknow: An order by Varanasi Police Commissioner Mohit Agarwal to deploy personnel dressed as priests and priestesses in the sanctum sanctorum of the Kashi Vishwanath temple has sparked a row. The Samajwadi Party (SP) plans to file a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), saying the move was an attempt to toy with devotees’ sentiments, with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asking “under which police manual” was such a directive correct.
Agarwal Tuesday directed that one female and one male police personnel dressed in the priestess/priest attire must be deployed in the garbhagriha at any given time. The next day, videos of policewomen wearing saffron salwar-kameez and policemen in red dhoti-kurta inside the temple’s garbhagriha went viral on social media.
In the videos, the police personnel were purportedly seen managing the crowds in the temple’s sanctum sanctorum while wearing rudraksh beads around their necks and white tripund tilaks (symbolising reverence for Hindu god Shiva) on their foreheads.
“The person who gave such an order should be suspended. If tomorrow a thug takes advantage of this and loots the innocent public, then what answer will the UP government and administration give?” Akhilesh wrote on X.
पुजारी के वेश में पुलिसकर्मियों का होना किस ‘पुलिस मैन्युअल’ के हिसाब से सही है? इस तरह का आदेश देनेवालों को निलंबित किया जाए। कल को इसका लाभ उठाकर कोई भी ठग भोली-भाली जनता को लूटेगा तो उप्र शासन-प्रशासन क्या जवाब देगा।
निंदनीय! pic.twitter.com/BQUFmb7xAA
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 11, 2024
After inspecting the temple premises Tuesday, Varanasi police commissioner Agarwal held a meeting with the Additional CP (law and order) S Channappa, DCP (Security) Surya Kant Tripathi, Additional DCP (Security) Mamta Rani, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Shambhu Sharan among others in the Kashi Vishwanath temple premises. He then directed that the police personnel deployed in the temple premises undergo a three-day ‘soft skills training’ programme.
However, what sparked the controversy was the implementation of another direction by Agarwal to station one female and one male police officer in priest attire in the garbhagriha of the temple to ensure crowd control.
A press statement issued by the Varanasi police commissionerate seen by ThePrint, further stated that these personnel will be assisted by one male and one female police officer in uniform.
Agarwal’s other directions included a ‘no-touch’ policy during VIP movement to ensure police avoid touching any devotee, the use of a rope to cordon off the garbhagriha to ensure devotees remain at some distance from the shivling, and that no police personnel should be active on social media while on duty.
As the Opposition questioned the move, Agarwal issued a statement saying it was done so police personnel can act as “guides” for devotees because the latter are more likely to pay heed to the directions of a priest. “The respect of the devotees is more towards the pujaris. So when they (cops dressed like priests) direct the devotees for darshan, people will pay heed to them. Since the police work under a lot of pressure and may tend to touch the devotees while giving them directions especially during VIP movement, devotees develop a negative feeling towards them, but if the police do that while dressed like a pujari, the devotee won’t feel bad even if they touch them,” he said in the statement.
‘Done with special agenda’: Oppn
The dress code for police personnel deployed in the garbagriha has riled the Opposition. Speaking to ThePrint, SP spokesperson Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi questioned the move, saying that it was done with a “special agenda”.
“I am in Mainpuri campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections but I have asked our people to give a complaint to the Election Commission about this. The police commissioner is saying that devotees don’t listen to cops and if they (cops) wear the dress of a pujari, they will not be afraid of police but if this is the case, the police need to change their behaviour, not their uniform. The eligibility of a pujari is different from that of a policeman. A policeman works so hard to get the uniform. This is being done in the middle of elections with a special agenda,” he said.
Dhoopchandi further claimed that this was like playing with emotions of the devotees because when they see such an attire, they may mistake the police to be pujaris and touch their feet.
When contacted, DCP (Security) Surya Kant Tripathi said: “This is for the convenience of the devotees and to ensure that devotees don’t feel bad when police personnel ask them to move ahead and direct them during crowd control. The move was being planned for some time and was implemented after the meeting. So far, we have received a good response from the public.”
Tripathi added that police are deployed in three shifts in the temple premises, and around 30-40 personnel could be in the temple premises dressed in priest attire on a given day.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)