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HomeIndia'Unimaginable what they did to temples', Alwar residents still in shock, week...

‘Unimaginable what they did to temples’, Alwar residents still in shock, week after demolition

Public outcry over demolition of 3 centuries old temples in Rajasthan started blame game between Congress & BJP — while Congress is in power at state, municipal body headed by BJP.

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Alwar: Around 11:00 am on 17 April, residents of Rajgarh’s Sarai Mohalla, in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, were greeted with the disturbing rumble of bulldozers, tearing down nearly 90 homes in the area, as part of an alleged anti-encroachment drive.

But what shocked people here even more than the loss of private property, was the ‘destruction’ of three ancient, more than 250-year-old temples in the area — a Shiva temple, one dedicated to Ram, and the third, a “chauth mata’ temple — all three of which were razed to the ground.

Residents recalled watching in horror, as workers who were part of the demolition drive, allegedly entered the temple premises and used cutters to remove the deities from the temples.

“It is a loss for us, yes, we were just trying to bring our lives back on track after the difficulties of last two year’s Covid pandemic and now we were hit with this drive,” 45-year-old Satish Meena, who owns a medical shop nearby told ThePrint.

He added: “But it is unimaginable what they did to the temples. They should have at least removed the deities and then taken down the structure. Using a cutter like that hurt many people who were unfortunate to witness this. We never expected that the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) will be so extreme.”

Public outcry over the demolition of the three temples has since started a blame game between the Congress and the BJP — while the Congress is in power at the state, the municipal body is headed by the BJP.

An FIR was filed Thursday at the Rajgarh police station against the destruction of the temples, which named executive officer of Rajgarh Nagar Palika Banwari Lal Meena, sub-divisional magistrate Keshav Kumar and Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena. Several Hindu religious groups have registered complaints with the police and the district magistrate, accusing the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan of harbouring anti-Hindu sentiments.

Talking to ThePrint, BJP MP Kirori Lal Meena said, “The BJP can never desecrate Hindu idols. Even if the local body belonged to the party, no one could have done this. The chairman Rajgarh Nagar Palika whom the Congress is targeting was not in the state when the drive was taking place. It is true that the BJP intended to make a ‘Gaurav path’ (road widening) here, but not at this cost. It is the Congress party which has hurt Hindu sentiments.”

Refuting the BJP allegations, Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena held the “BJP ruled local body” accountable for “the plight of the Hindus in Rajgarh”.

He said: “The Congress has nothing to do with this drive, as all decisions regarding civic facilities are taken by the corporation, which is completely under the thumb of the BJP. This is another ploy of the BJP to create a hateful atmosphere in a Congress-ruled state, to seek revenge for losing face (in the elections). They are giving another face to bulldozer politics that ensued in the national capital (a reference to the demolition drive in the national capital’s Jahangirpuri).”

State BJP chief Satish Poonia has formed a five-member fact-finding committee Friday to probe the incident. The members will visit the location, speak with the residents and make a report that is expected to be submitted to Poonia.

When ThePrint visited the area early Saturday, BJP workers were busy putting up a pandal to host party leaders expected to visit the area. The road had been barricaded at both ends by both the police and BJP workers and vehicular movement stopped by the cops in the area where the demolition drive took place.


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‘Both parties to blame’

About an hour away from the main Alwar city, Sarai Mohalla has assumed a kind of sombre reputation among locals, making it easy for an outsider seeking direction,, to reach the area.

The demolition drive has left the area without electricity and water connection. “There is no water and electricity for the past three days. We are arranging for tankers and even street lights have stopped working. No one has taken the responsibility to clean the roads as well,” 55-year-old resident Vasudha Devi told ThePrint.

Among the debris of demolished structure — boulders, cement rocks, dust — lie a dome that had once adorned the now-broken Shiv temple.

Satyendra Lal, who owns a small stationery shop in the area said the state of the neighbourhood was “shocking”. Parts of his home and the godown where he kept supplies for his store, were demolished in 17 April’s drive.

“My grandfather, my father, me and my son have been part of all important pujas at the 250-year-old Shiv temple. There are generations of people whose religious faith within our locality is attached to these three temples. When this happened all of us begged, but SDM Keshav Kumar was pulling people by their collars. Whoever tried to stop the bulldozer from touching the shiv temple was being beaten by the police personnel,” Lal alleged.

In a statement released Friday, the Rajgarh district administration claimed that an unanimous decision was taken during the municipality meeting on 6 September, 2021, to remove the illegal encroachments on the roadside to widen the road.

However, Rajgarh municipality chairman Satish Guria has been quoted in the media as saying that the municipality had not mentioned the demolition of the temples in its proposal. “The board never mentioned in its proposal to demolish temples… Everything was done by the administration,” Guria was quoted as saying.

A tweet posted from the official handle of the Alwar district collector and magistrate has meanwhile said that while some people of the Brajbhoomi Kalyan Parishad had approached the office for an enquiry into the temple demolitions and were made aware about an enquiry into the matter, no statement was released. The tweet accused the Parishad of spreading lies.

According to the residents, officials of the district administration and police personnel were present during the demolition.

While many of the residents also told ThePrint that they didn’t receive any prior notice about the demolition, sources in the district administration claimed that a letter was sent to residents seven day prior, informing them of the drive.

Additional District Magistrate Sunita Pankaj was also quoted as a news agency as saying that after last year’s meeting, locals were informed about the demolition and the removal of the temples, but there was no opposition at the time.

 

Meanwhile, shattered by their loss, most residents do not care about the political blame-game surrounding the demolition, blaming “both parties” for the incident.

“The Congress party cannot play victim, since we are the ones who faced the direct brunt. Did anyone speak about compensation yet? No one. They are no different and they cannot blame the BJP alone for this massacre,” Mehul Parekh, a 35-year-old resident, told ThePrint.

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


Also read: Nadda tells BJP’s Rajasthan unit to ‘end in-fighting’, leave leadership issues to high command


 

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