Political slugfest continues over temple demolition in Rajasthan's Rajgarh

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In the continued slugfest between the BJP and Congress over the demolition of two temples in the Alwar district, a saffron party MP on Friday asserted that the Rajgarh municipality headed by his party had not cleared any proposal to demolish the shrines.

Jaipur (Rural) MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore alleged that the temples were demolished in haste without any clearance by any senior government official in the district.

The temples were demolished when Alwar's district collector had been transferred and his successor was yet to assume charge, alleged Rathore.

Sticking to the Congress' charge, Rajasthan's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas asked the BJP to tender an apology to the country for allegedly demolishing the temple in a town with its municipal body headed by them.

Two temples were demolished during an anti-encroachment drive in Alwar district's Rajgarh dearly this week, triggering an exchange of barbs on Friday between the Congress and BJP in Rajasthan.

Rajgarh is a BJP-run municipality in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

In a news conference here, Rathore also accused the Rajasthan government of pursuing the politics of appeasement and hurting the sentiments of the majority community.

He said the demolition of the temples was nowhere in the proposal presented before the municipal committee board and in any case no religious place can be demolished without the permission of senior officers such as the district collector.

The temple was demolished in a hurry when the previous collector was relieved from duty and the new collector was yet to take the charge, he alleged.

"This action was done with a malicious intention of vengeance. The incident of Alwar and the violence in Karauli are known to everyone. Section 144 is being imposed on Hindu yatras in the state. The way appeasement politics is being done in Rajasthan for a particular community is crystal clear," Rathore said.

He said it seems a 'Talibani' mindset exists in the Ashok Gehlot government in the state where cases of atrocities on women and Dalits are on the rise and the government is miserably failing in providing drinking water to the people.

A five-member BJP panel headed by state president Satish Poonia visited Rajgarh where two temples and some shops were demolished on Sunday.

While one temple was completely demolished and one partially. The owners of the completely demolished temple had removed the idols. The sanctum sanctorum of the partially demolished temple was stated to be intact.

BJP MP Sumedhanand Sarawasti who was a member of the fact-finding committee said, "The 300-year-old temple has been demolished, the Congress government and the chief minister should publicly apologise."

"The idols should be installed respectfully by getting the temples rebuilt," he further demanded.

On the other hand, Rajasthan minister Khachariyawas said the BJP should apologise to the country as they are spreading lies after demolishing temples in Rajgarh here the municipal body headed by them cleared the proposal to bring down the temples.

"There is documentary evidence that Nagar Palika Board had made the proposal to this effect. The BJP is conspiring to foment communal riots in the entire state by misusing social media. The BJP wants to win the lost battle in Rajasthan. But I will tell them that they hastened in spoiling the atmosphere as the assembly elections are due after one and a half years," Khachariyawas said.

Former Congress MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Tikaram Jully also reached Rajgarh to inspect the demolished temples.

BJP's Rajya Sabha member Kirodi Lal Meena tweeted on Saturday, "Former MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh and (Minister) Tikaram Jully have assured the reconstruction of temples in Rajgarh but my other demands are compensation to people whose houses were demolished and to punish officials involved in this misdeed."

He said he had also demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter but his demands were yet to be met.

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