The fire of temple and bulldozer dispute, which started from Alwar in Rajasthan, has also reached the capital Delhi. On Saturday, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party protested outside the temple in Srinivaspuri, South Delhi. Actually, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has pasted the notice to vacate the temple. Apart from AAP, the local people have decided to oppose the government’s action.
The government has put up a notice outside the Neelkanth Mahadev temple. It said, ‘It is seen that you have erected a religious place at the project site at Srinivasapuri. It is an established fact that this is Government of India/L&Do land and you have unauthorizedly occupied/encroached upon this Government land.’
The order of the Delhi High Court has also been mentioned in the notice. The special thing is that Srinivaspuri is one of those places in Delhi, which is being redeveloped by central agencies. As per the notice of the ministry, the temple in-charge will have to vacate the premises. In the absence of this, the Ministry will carry out the work of eviction and demolition of the work at the site. This temple is registered under Sai Shraddha Mandir.
What do the local people say?
Talking to India Today, Ranjan Prasad Parashar said, ‘The temple was renovated in 2002 and I have been the head priest here since then. Local people have faith in Neelkanth Mahadev Temple. We have got the notice from the central agency.
A member of the committee that looks after the management of the temple trust said, ‘We would like nothing to happen to the temple. If the government is adamant on demolishing it, it needs to be taken to the other side safely.
Neelam, a local resident, said, “We cannot let our parents take us out and our God is bigger than our parents. We will stand in front of the bulldozer. We will not let them bring it down.
However, the local people also say that they do not want to make the issue political. Rajni Bhati said, ‘We do not want politicians to make this issue political. We are united here because of one concern, that is to ensure the security of this temple. We all want to ensure that the temple will not be demolished.
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Senior AAP leader Atishi had reached the spot along with local MLA Madan Lal. Lal said, “This notice clearly shows that the BJP is looking for new ways of making recovery. After shops and houses, they have started extortion efforts from temples. Atishi said, ‘The Delhi High Court order is 10 years old, why did the BJP suddenly remember the 10 year old order? This time his bulldozer politics is being used to extort money from common people in Delhi.
“They are threatening to demolish families, shopkeepers. And those who used to ask for votes in the name of Lord Ram, now want money from Lord Ram’s piggy bank. Will this bulldozer politics crush people’s trust?’