Tensions were high as over 126 Shivling sculptures were found just 5 kms away from the Kashi Vishwanath corridor construction site in Rohit Nagar area in Varanasi. Party members of SP, BSP, Congress and religious activists thronged the area to criticize the BJP government.
Image: Twitter / @AnkitLal
Varanasi: Countless Shivling sculptures were found strewn near a drain around the Kashi Vishwanath corridor construction site in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The news reached the local police on Wednesday and prima facie, it looks as if the Shivling’s were tossed aside after excavation for the construction.
Tensions were high as over 126 Shivling sculptures were found just 5 kms away from the construction site in Rohit Nagar area.
The ruling government had promised that the construction for the Kashi Vishwanath corridor around the temple will be undertaken with caution and all the idols, sculptures and religious material unearthed would be treated with respect, care and secured a museum. On Wednesday, numerous Shivling sculptures were found in a community dump near Assi Ghat. The area was gripped by controversy and angry residents were momentarily pacified when the police loaded the sculptures in auto and trucks and moved them away to control the tense situation.
As the news spread, local residents came together to protest the incident. A video was shot which soon went viral on social media. Party members of SP, BSP, Congress and religious activists thronged the area to criticize the BJP government. Many women also expressed their anger over the incident.
According to media reports, a plot near the banks of Assi drain was being dumped with Shivling sculptures on Wednesday. When the locals heard of this, they gathered at the spot and took some of the sculptures with them to their homes. City ADM Vinay Singh and City SP Dinesh Singh arrived at the spot after getting the information. As the situation had become delicate, a police force was deployed in the area.
After SP and Congress members reached the spot, former Congress MLA Ajay Rai, who also ran against PM Modi in the Lok Sabha Polls from the Varanasi seat, urged the police to act after which a case was registered under 295, 153 B and 427 of the IPC.
Many said that the sculptures were thrown on the orders of the BJP
The police said that they will investigate the matter and find out who could have thrown such a large number of sculptures at the spot. Rai targeted the BJP and said the government which consolidated its power in the name of religion has been exposed after this incident. “The BJP govt sought votes in the name of religion and their true face has now been exposed in front of the public. It is in their constituency that these sculptures were thrown in the drain. What could be worse than this? The citizens will never forgive CM Yogi Adityanath,” he said.
Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati’s disciple Swami Avimukteshwaranand, who rushed to the spot along with his disciples alleged that the debris and Shivlings proved that temples and idols of the deities were being destroyed for the project. The group also prayed to sculptures in the debris.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) administration, however, claimed that the debris and Shivlings had no connection with KVC, as debris of buildings being removed for the project were being dumped only in the Rajghat area.
The government is taking over the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex by demolishing over a hundred structures, including heritage buildings and temples around it.
“According to informal estimates, as of the second week of November 2018, as many as 168 structures, including about 95 residential buildings, have been taken over. Demolition of these buildings is at various stages of completion. The number of temples and places of worship that have been demolished would be approximately 55, say social activists associated with the Joint Action Committee and the Sajja Sanskriti Manch, which has been monitoring the demolitions,” reported Frontline. The corridor is being built on a Rs. 413 crore budget.
“It is a multipronged undertaking facilitated by various departments of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre and accompanied by communally polarising propaganda by a clutch of Hindutva-oriented organisations, some of which have sprung up all of a sudden and seem to have been set up especially as part of the “Target Varanasi Project,” the report said.
Related
SC dismisses petition challenging demolitions around Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi
Mass Mobilisation in Ayodhya, Tension in Varanasi, Muslim clerics appeal for calm
Residents & Citizens Protest as Demolitions around Shiv Viswanath Mandir continue: Varanasi
With ‘Clean Up’ Plans around Gyanvapi Masjid, Lakhs Being Siphoned in ‘Compensation’, Activists Fear an ‘Ayodhya’ like Demolition in Varanasi