New Delhi: Facing flak for the demolition of a temple at Tughlakabad in Delhi dedicated to the 15th-century spiritual leader Sant Ravidas, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now asked the Narendra Modi government to ensure that the temple is reconstructed at the same site.
The temple, located in a protected forest area in Tughlakabad, was demolished by the central government-controlled Delhi Development Authority earlier this month after the Supreme Court upheld a Delhi High Court order in this regard, ending a 27-year-old legal wrangle.
Angry over the demolition, hundreds of Dalits staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar Wednesday, and later went towards the site of the demolished temple in south-east Delhi, where the protest turn violent.
A delegation of BJP leaders, including MLA Vijender Gupta and the party’s national vice-president Dushyant Kumar Gautam, met Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar Thursday, asking him to look into the case.
“We met Javadekar ji and told him that it is because of the AAP government’s failure that the temple was demolished, as it should have changed its land-use,” Gautam told ThePrint.
“We have now asked the Centre to ensure the Delhi government changes it and the temple is reconstructed at the same place. The minister has assured us that all hurdles will be removed and they will ensure this is done,” he added.
Gautam said the BJP plans to ensure that a grand memorial is built for Sant Ravidas in Delhi. The mystic poet-saint is believed to have been born to a family of cobblers in present-day Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The location of the demolished temple is believed to a place where Ravidas had spent three days.
Political blame-game
With Delhi elections round the corner, the state unit of the BJP is concerned the issue may impact its poll prospects as the city has a significant number of Dalit voters who revere Sant Ravidas.
Members of the AAP have also expressed support to the Dalits, and had joined the protest march Wednesday.
The AAP has blamed the Modi government for the demolition, pointing out that land in Delhi comes under it. The Delhi government also passed a resolution in the assembly, demanding that the Centre allot land to rebuild the demolished temple.
BJP leaders, on the other hand, accused the Delhi government of politicising the matter instead of changing the land-use.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, Delhi’s social welfare minister, said: “They are leading people astray (gumraah kar rahe hain). The land comes under forest land, which cannot be deforested just like this. The Delhi government does not have the authority to do that. If the BJP can show us a way out legally in terms of how this can be done, we will do it in a day.”
Soon after the temple was razed, Bahujan Samaj Party chief and former UP CM Mayawati had said both the central and Delhi governments were involved in the demolition.
Also read: Why demolition of Sant Ravidas temple in a Delhi forest has Dalits up in arms
Yes, BJP build it at the same place , bigger and better
First create the problem, then jump in and try to act as a messiah. This game has become old now. Now try a new perception game.
Sad pity politics dictating the situation.
What would have been our plight if not for supreme court