The Alwar district administration in Rajasthan said on Saturday that all three temples demolished in an anti-encroachment drive earlier this week will be rebuilt. There were demands by the opposition BJP that the temples must be reconstructed. The temples will be built on non-controversial land, said the administration.
“There were three temples. Two were private and one was built on a drain. The administration removed idols after unanimous consensus with people. Temples will be built on non-controversial land with proper agreement of the people by the municipality,” Sunita Pankaj, ADM, Alwar, told news agency ANI.
In fact, the saffron party had said it had spoken to administration officials that the temples be redeveloped and the administration had agreed.
The Rajasthan government issued a notice to the chairperson of the municipality of Rajgarh, Alwar, for demolishing the temple, asking why it had not taken permission from the government for this action. Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said he was unaware of the state government’s role in demolition of the temple. The board of the municipality of Rajgarh took this decision and took permission from the district collector, and assistance from police, he added.
Khachariyawas further said those who broke the temple will not be spared and action will be taken against them.
A BJP delegation, comprising Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand, party’s state vice president Narayan Singh Dewal and MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal arrived at Rajgarh in the morning and will submit a report in three days. The saffron party leaders alleged that a goshala in the area had also been demolished. The party has demanded a public apology from chief minister Ashok Gehlot and compensation to victims. BJP leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, meanwhile, said the Congress government in Rajasthan had “made the state like Taliban”.
The political row, between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP, after the demolition has only intensified.
Rajgarh is a BJP-run municipality. The priest of one temple and the Brajbhoomi Vikas Parishad on Friday registered a case against three people, including Rajgarh Congress MLA Johri Lal Meena and the SDM, at the Rajgarh police station, for “demolishing the temple in collaboration with the administration”.
But the Congress said the Rajgarh municipality, BJP’s board, BJP president and 34 councillors took the decision to remove the encroachment.
Three temples and some shops were demolished in Rajgarh with officials describing the action as part of an anti-encroachment drive to widen a road in the municipal town. They said the demolition was approved by the Rajgarh Nagar Palika Board. The BJP targeted the Congress over the demolition of temples, saying the party will have to face its consequences.
While Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia accused the Congress of being behind the demolition, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra said it was the decision of the city’s municipality headed by the saffron party.
Claiming one of the demolished temples to be 300-year-old, Poonia said in Udaipur that the videos on social media showed a bulldozer demolishing the ancient Shiva temple. It is in the public domain that all these actions were taken at the behest of the state government, he said.
Refuting Poonia’s allegations, Dotasra accused the BJP of misleading people and playing politics over religion. He said even during the rule of the former BJP government headed by Vasundhara Raje, hundreds of temples were demolished in Jaipur.
Dotasra said the proposal of demolition was passed by the Rajgarh municipality board headed by the BJP, which alone is responsible for the demolitions. “It is the habit of the BJP and RSS to commit wrong and spread communal frenzy. One temple was private and idols were removed and the second temple was partially demolished but its sanctum sanctorum is safe,” he said. Dotasra asserted that the Congress government does not target any religious place.
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