New Delhi: The Congress has hit out at the ruling BJP dispensation in Madhya Pradesh after six statues along the ‘Mahakal Lok’ corridor in Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated just seven months ago, were damaged during a squall. The opposition party has alleged that corruption by the BJP government compromised the construction of the ‘Saptarishi’ statues, because of which they were so easily toppled by strong winds.
At a press conference in the party headquarters here Tuesday, the Congress’s MP in-charge J.P. Aggarwal said that the BJP had “fiddled with the faith” of crores of Indians by indulging in “corruption” while building the statues.
“In Karnataka we had given a slogan of 40 per cent sarkar. A similar scam has come to light in Madhya Pradesh. That too in the Mahakal Mandir of Ujjain. The BJP didn’t keep even the sacred Mahakal away from its loot. There couldn’t have been a bigger loot in the name of religion. Bhagwaan ko bhi nahi choda (They didn’t even spare god)”, said Aggarwal.
He further said: “When the Lokayukta identified some officers who carried out this loot in the name of religion, the entire government got involved in saving them and shut down the inquiry.”
Demanding a high court-monitored probe into the matter, Aggarwal asked if the statues were “made of paper”.
“How can a statue worth crores get destroyed just because of a little wind?” he further asked.
The Congress leader also questioned whether the tender for the first phase of the Mahakal project — worth Rs 351 crore — was given to a company from Gujarat.
“Will the BJP not apologise for this affront to the sanatan dharma?” he asked.
Aggarwal further said that if the Congress comes to power in Madhya Pradesh, it will rebuild the statues using fine granite, engaging the best sculptors from the state.
The allegations come at a time when Madhya Pradesh assembly polls are just months away. According to party sources, much like it did in Karnataka, the Congress — led by former CM and state party chief Kamal Nath — will be using corruption allegations as one of its main poll planks against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government.
The Congress has already kicked off a massive Hindu outreach programme in the state, with Kamal Nath visiting various dhams and even starting a ‘pujari prakoshth’ (priest cell) in the state. Nath has also projected himself as a bonafide ‘Hanuman bhakt’, having built a massive Hanuman temple in his constituency, Chhindwara.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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